PRECEDENT: Somebody looking like Gregory Peck has commented on Twitter that the final and executory decision of President Noynoy Aquino withholding state honors during the burial of the late President Ferdinand Marcos may set a bad precedent.

Former Bulacan congressman Willie Villarama tweeted: “Problema kung magkakaroon ng ganyang precedent. Wala ng malilibing doon. Lahat ng pulitiko may ‘nakaraan’.” (Loosely: As all politicians have a “past,” none of them would qualify for state honors.)

He has a point. It seems from the pronouncement of President Aquino that his opinion alone is enough to bar any former Chief Executive or high military officer, although not convicted by final judgment, from interment in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Resting Place of Heroes) or receiving state honors even when buried elsewhere.

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NEW RULE: There is still in effect AFP Regulations G 161-373 laying down the policy, the criteria and the procedure for those who would be interred at the Libingan.

Under those regulations, issued by then President Cory Aquino, the incumbent president’s mother, the late Mr. Marcos is qualified under any of four of the 10 categories (Medal of Valor awardee, former president, former defense secretary, and as World War II veteran).

But now, President Aquino has added by mere passing comment, without benefit of an official order, his own requirement that the deceased must pass his (“under my watch”) moral judgment.

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SMARTING: It does not matter to the President that the deceased strongman was not dishonorably discharged nor convicted with finality of an offense involving moral turpitude, and that while he had been accused of some crimes, he was never convicted.

Under our system of laws, Mr. Marcos died an innocent man. But that is of no moment to the son of Cory Aquino who sounded like he was still smarting from something.

The last survey I saw showed 52 percent of those polled favored burying Marcos with state honors. But President Aquino, citing the many victims of martial law, said something about the need for apology, justice and restitution.

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WORD OF HONOR: An intriguing point is Sen. Bongbong Marcos’ reacting with a pained statement that President Aquino has no word of honor. In Tagalog, one would say “walang isang salita.”

This raised speculation that there must have been an understanding between the Aquinos and the Marcoses, presumably revolving around the formula proposed by Vice President Jojo Binay calling for a state burial not in the Libingan but in the Ilocos. The compromise was well received in most places.

The Marcoses must have been led to believe, especially during the 2010 campaign when Noynoy Aquino was soliciting votes for his presidential bid, that an Aquino victory would pave the way for the Marcos patriarch finally being buried with appropriate honors.

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GENERATIONAL SHIFT: For Sunday reading, we pass on some notes from the Internet (http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com) on the appointment of Imus bishop Luis Antonio Tagle as archbishop of Manila.

The appointment of the tricycle-riding, stage-singing theologian who takes questions over the YouTube is a generational shift as the 54-year-old Manileño nicknamed “Chito” takes over from 79-year-old Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

Whispersintheloggia said of him: Born in the capital but having moved to its outskirts as a boy, Tagle is no stranger to North America. As opposed to Rome, the archbishop-elect was sent for graduate studies in theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, earning his doctorate there in 1991. Having been tapped to head the diocese of Imus a decade later, he returned and made a splash at the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City, delivering a rapturously-received catechesis on the Eucharist.

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FALSE GODS: That catechesis included these passages: “Quite often, Jesus was denounced as a violator of God’s law when he showed compassion for the weak, the poor, the sick, the women, and public sinners. He offered new life to those considered impure by eating and mingling with them. He assured them that God was not distant and there was hope in God’s loving mercy.

“But he himself got no mercy from his adversaries, only ridicule for disobeying laws that were supposed to embody God’s will. Jesus suffered on account of his self-offering for those loved by God. But he never wavered in his sacrifice. In the process he exposed the false gods that people worshipped, erroneous notions of holiness and the blindness of righteous people to the visitations of God.

“An idolater easily loses compassion for the weak. Though he was judged, Jesus was the one actually judging the untrue worship that kept people blind and deaf to the true God and the poor. The Church that lives the life of Christ and offers his living sacrifice cannot run away from its mission to unearth the false gods worshipped by the world. How many people have exchanged the true God for idols like profit, prestige, pleasure and control?

“To keep these false gods, their worshippers sacrifice other people’s lives and the earth. How many factory workers are being denied the right wages for the god of profit? How many women are being sacrificed to the god of domination? How many children are being sacrificed to the god of lust? How many trees, rivers, hills are being sacrificed to the god of ‘progress’? How many poor people are being sacrificed to the god of greed? How many defenseless people are being sacrificed to the god of national security?

“The Church, however, must also constantly examine its fidelity to Jesus’ sacrifice of obedience to God and compassion for the poor. Like those who opposed Jesus in the name of authentic religion, we could be blind to God and neighbors because of self-righteousness, spiritual pride and rigidity of mind. Ecclesiastical customs and persons, when naively and narrowly deified and glorified, might become hindrances to true worship and compassion.”