On this day eight years ago, then-President Rodrigo Duterte made possible what was then improbable: the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

His burial at the hallowed grounds had been bitterly and vociferously opposed by the usual collaborators: the Liberal Party, radical Left, mainstream media, and the church. Displaying the political will that marked his leadership — and sorely missing after his term — FPRRD allowed the burial in line with the preparations made by the late strongman’s family.

FPRRD allowed the burial of Marcos Sr. at the Libingan because the law provided for it. The fact that nothing was done to amend that law in all the post-Edsa administrations, including the two Aquinos—the then bitter enemies of the Marcoses—means one of at least two reasons: they didn’t really hate the dictator widely blamed for the death of the Aquino patriarch, or it didn’t matter what the law said as long as they got what they wanted.

There was no doubt that FPRRD intended to uphold the law on the controversial burial because he promised it during the campaign prior to the 2016 elections. To the chagrin of his communications team, FPRRD boldly declared he would do what happened on this day in 2016 in his campaign sorties.

FPRRD was called all sorts of names by those whom the nation thought were sworn enemies of the Marcos family, many of whom have since then been singing hallelujahs to the dictator’s namesake. When he knows he is right, FPRRD cannot be moved. He is a rare, perhaps only, politician who cannot be swayed by public opinion on a well-thought-out decision.

In contrast, BBM has a healthy diet of public pronouncements, which he has swallowed unashamedly. He has taken back his salute to FPRRD for what the latter did for Tacloban and Leyte after “Yolanda.” He has no qualms about reversing his position on the ICC’s prosecution of FPRRD, which has no leg to stand on save the self-serving opinions of his critics and opportunists who have gravitated to BBM.

As he took center stage to mark the occasion of his father’s burial, what BBM did not say - or refused to say - is the biggest story of all. What kind of son would refuse to express gratitude to the man who gave his father the burial few people thought would be possible in his lifetime?

Regardless of where the Marcos and Duterte families stand politically at this juncture in our nation’s history, that does not take away the debt of gratitude the Marcoses owe to FPRRD. It is a debt they will never be able to pay - and which they clearly show now have no intention to pay. Not that FPRRD expected it, but it is what civilized people normally do.

BBM has been called all sorts of names, but there is one he undoubtedly earned not only for shamelessly glossing over FPRRD’s role in the last rites for his father but even more so for the relentless persecution and harassment of FPRRD and his family: the poster boy of ingratitude.