Philippines: Marcos burial in hero grave again on hold

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines

The burial of ex-Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos at cemetery for national heroes has once again been placed on hold following petitions from opposition groups.

On Tuesday, the Philippine Star quoted the Supreme Court Information Office chief as saying at that the burial could still not take place.

"Magistrates had decided to defer the decision on the consolidated petitions arguing that Marcos' burial at the national cemetery would be a 'grave injustice' to victims of martial rule, which he oversaw as president," Theodore Te said at a Manila press briefing.

It is reportedly the second time that the Supreme Court has extended such an order for Marcos' remains, which have been held in a refrigerated crypt in his home province of northern Ilocos Norte since his family returned from exile in Hawaii in the early 1990s.

Te added, however, that it had been a very close vote.

Petitions to block the burial were filed after President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he would allow the internment, as Marcos was a former president and a soldier.

The decision has not sat well with victims and rights groups, who have argued that only those who serve as an inspiration and as models for emulation can be buried at the cemetery.

The government has clarified, however, that Marcos would not gain the status of a "hero" as it acknowledged the "dark pages of history during martial law", where thousands were killed and jailed for opposing his one-man rule.

Following the 1972 announcement of martial law, hundreds of outspoken critics of the Marcos administration were rounded up, while the military put an end to newspaper publications and radio and television networks.

He was toppled by the so-called People Power rallies in 1986 that forced him into exile in Hawaii, where he died in 1989.

In June, victims of martial law laid stones -- inscribed with the names of those killed during Marcos’ rule -- at a gravesite in the cemetery said to reserved for the late strongman.