MANILA - Law professor and Akbayan party-list Rep. Barry Gutierrez said Wednesday that they have filed a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court regarding the burial of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Gutierrez said they argued that the Supreme Court should exercise jurisdiction over the petition.

"The Supreme Court should exercise jurisdiction sa kasong ito (in this case). They should not seek refuge in the political question doctrine," Gutierrez said.

He expressed frustration over the High Court's pronouncement that the it lacks jurisdiction over the case.

"We are dismayed that they said they have no jurisdiction. They sought refuge behind the political question doctrine, which ironically is a doctrine used by the Marcos Supreme Court to justify among other things the declaration of Martial Law and the adoption of the Marcos 1973 Constitution and so many other infamous acts of that period," he said.

He added that the current organic law has expanded the power of the Supreme Court as the arbiter of last resort.

"The 1987 Constitution is designed to expand the power of the Supreme Court para di na maulit 'yun," he explained.

Gutierrez also said that they have asked the Supreme Court to apply the same stringent criteria it has applied to previous cases involving dishonesty. The lawmaker raised the previous case of disgraced military cadet Jeff Aldrin Cudia whose appeal to be reinstated at the Philippine Military Academy was denied after having been proven to have lied to his superiors.

"We hope that by bringing in comparisons to other cases the Supreme Court has decided, similar to the dishonesty (of Marcos) that they reconsider the decision and take a second look at our arguments," Gutierrez said.

BAD FAITH

Gutierrez claimed that the Marcos family showed bad faith in rushing the interment of its patriarch at the Heroes' Cemetery.

"(The rushed burial) demonstrated the bad faith and the dishonesty attendant to the actions of the Marcos family," Gutierrez said.

He also put the blame on the Marcos family.

"At the end of the day, kasalanan ng Marcos family," said Gutierrez.

(At the end of the day, the Marcos family is to blame.)

"They did not wait for the Supreme Court decision to be final and they insisted on a rushed, surreptitious and secret burial even without the period for the filing for motion for reconsideration having elapsed," he added.

Gutierrez is optimistic that the issue of the Marcos burial will be resolved in a month's time, stating that the Supreme Court has ordered all parties involved to comment within 10 days.

Asked what the implication would be should the High Court reconsider, Gutierrez said that there is no other recourse but to exhume the late strongman's remains.

"The practical implication is to get him out of here. If they rule in our favor, we want the body to be removed from the Libingan ng mga Bayani." – with reports from Benise Balaoing, ABS-CBN News