Philippines VP opposes Marcos' burial in hero cemetery

By Roy Ramos

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines

Philippines Vice President Leni Robredo announced Monday that she "strongly opposes" the president’s move to have late dictator Ferdinand Marcos buried at the national Heroes' Cemetery.

"How can we allow a hero's burial for a man who has plundered our country and was responsible for the death and disappearance of many Filipinos?” she said in a statement. “Those who have greatly committed crimes and moral turpitude to the Filipino people cannot be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani [cemetery]."

On Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte gave the go-ahead for Marcos -- who ruled the country for 20 years, around a decade of it under martial law -- to be interred at the site as he had been a former soldier.

“As a matter of fact, I voted for him during his first term,” said Duterte, whose late father served as Marcos’ cabinet secretary in the pre-martial law years.

“If other Filipinos oppose it, fine. Hold demonstrations, go ahead. You can use the streets for a month],” he was quoted as saying by news broadcaster ABS-CBN.

Marcos' remains 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.

Following the 1972 announcement of martial law, hundreds of outspoken critics of the Marcos administration had been 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.

"It is our responsibility to teach our children the heroism and sacrifice of our forefathers. And Mr. Marcos is no hero," Vice President Robredo was quoted by news website Rappler as saying Monday.

"This decision will not bring unity to our country; it will only deepen the unhealed wounds of the survivors and family members of victims of the terrible years under the Marcos presidency," she insisted.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines are currently preparing to transfer Marcos’ remains to the Heroes’ Cemetery in Taguig City in the capital region.

His son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. -- who lost the vice presidential race to Robredo -- said arrangements are being made for a burial in September, according to ABS-CBN.

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