Despite protests, Marcos is buried at heroes' cemetery

Asked why the burial was kept from the public, officials said it was the Marcos family's desire "to keep it private."

|
AP Photo/Bullit Marquez
Protesters chant slogans as the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos is finally buried at the Heroes' Cemetery in suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines Friday, Nov. 18, 2016. Marcos was buried at a heroes' cemetery Friday in a secrecy-shrouded ceremony, police officials said, despite growing opposition after the Supreme Court ruled that one of Asia's most infamous tyrants can be entombed in the hallowed grounds.

Ferdinand Marcos was buried at a heroes' cemetery Friday in a secrecy-shrouded ceremony, police officials said, despite growing opposition after the Supreme Court ruled that one of Asia's most infamous tyrants can be entombed in the hallowed grounds.

Police Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde said authorities earlier finalized the burial plans with the Marcos family Thursday, adding the former president's remains was flown by an air force helicopter from his northern Ilocos Norte hometown for burial in the military-run cemetery in Manila.

Albayalde, who was helping oversee security for the burial, told The Associated Press by cellphone that the dictator's widow, Imelda, who was clad in black, and her children attended the simple ceremony, which he described as "really like just a family affair."

After landing at an air base, Marcos's remains were brought by a black limousine to the cemetery, where his flag-draped wooden coffin was put on a horse-drawn carrier and later carried by military pallbearers to the gravesite, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said.

A 21-gun salute rang out by military honor troops during the burial ceremony.

"We rendered the simplest of honors befitting the former president in compliance to the desire of the family," Padilla said.

Asked why the burial was kept from the public, Padilla said it was the Marcos family's desire "to keep it private."

Still, the highly secretive funeral shocked many pro-democracy advocates and human rights victims who had planned several protests nationwide Friday to oppose the burial at the cemetery, where former presidents, soldiers and national artists have been interred, unaware that funeral plans for the dictator were already underway.

Leftwing activist Bonifacio Ilagan, who was tortured and detained during Marcos' time in power, said Marcos was being buried "like a thief in the night."

"It's very much like when he declared martial law in 1972," Ilagan told The AP. "This is so Marcos style. I want to rush to the cemetery to protest this. I feel so enraged, I feel so agitated."

He said he and other stunned activists, gathering outside the Supreme Court in Manila for the previously scheduled "Black Friday" protest against the burial, had not decided their next step.

Burying someone accused of massive rights violations and widespread corruption at the heroes' cemetery has long been an emotional and divisive issue in the Philippines, where Marcos was ousted by a largely nonviolent army-backed uprising in 1986. At the height of the political turbulence, Marcos flew to Hawaii, where he lived with his wife and children until he died in 1989.

The powerful family has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and Imelda Marcos and two of her children eventually ran for public office and won stunning political comebacks. One son, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., ran for vice president earlier this year and won more than 14 million votes, but lost by a slim margin.

In 1993, Marcos's body was taken to his hometown in Ilocos Norte, where it has been displayed in a glass coffin and became a tourist attraction. But his family fought for his remains to be transferred to the heroes' cemetery.

Rodrigo Duterte, who took over the presidency in June, backed the dictator's burial at the cemetery, saying it was his right as a president and soldier. It was a political risk in a country where pro-democracy advocates celebrate Marcos's ouster each year.

Duterte was flying to Peru to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, but officials said he was aware of the burial.

Last week, the Supreme Court dismissed seven petitions, including from former torture victims, which argued that an honorable burial for the dictator was "illegal and contrary to law, public policy, morals and justice."

Opponents also cited Duterte's political debt to the Marcos family, which supported his presidency.

The court ruled that Marcos was never convicted by final judgment of any offense involving moral turpitude, adding the convictions cited by anti-Marcos petitioners were civil in nature.

While critics may disregard Marcos as president due to his human rights abuses, the court said he cannot be denied the right to be acknowledged as a former legislator, a defense secretary, a military member, a war veteran and a Medal of Valor awardee.

"While he was not all good," the 15-member court said, "he was not pure evil either."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Despite protests, Marcos is buried at heroes' cemetery
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2016/1118/Despite-protests-Marcos-is-buried-at-heroes-cemetery
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe