Marcos’ family holds vigil at dictator’s tomb amid protests

MANILA Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos will be buried on Friday at the heroes’ cemetery in Manila, the national police chief said after the Supreme Court cleared the way for his internment 27 years after his death in Hawaii.

Police Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde said authorities completed burial plans with the Marcos family Thursday.

Marcos’s widow, Imelda, and her children attended the simple ceremony, along with dozens of relatives and friends.

Left-wing activist Bonifacio Ilagan, who was tortured and detained during Marcos’ time in power, said Marcos was being buried “like a thief in the night”.

The Supreme Court ruled last week that Marcos could be entombed in the cemetery, where former presidents, soldiers and national artists have been interred.

Pangilinan said the Duterte administration and the Marcos family reopened wounds caused by abuses, torture and killings under Marcos’ dictatorial rule.

The senator even claimed that east and west Germany agreed not to bury Adolf Hitler, a known dictator, at the heroes cemetery for they knew he has ruined their country.

“Well, it seems to be a very raucous issue for the nation but I would like to pray that everybody would find a space in his heart for forgiveness”, he said in a video message.

Members of the media were barred from entering the Taguig City cemetery at the request of the Marcoses to keep the burial a “confidential” affair, a military spokesman said.

Communist leaders lambasted President Rodrigo Duterte for allegedly “proving himself a rotten trapo” (traditional politician) when he gave a green light to the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

He said the Army provided a “battalion-size military honor (guard)” – around 100 soldiers.

“Marcos died in 1989, three years after his regime was toppled by the “‘people power’ revolution”: http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/with-heros-burial-for-ferdinand-marcos-duterte-endorses-philippines-authoritarian-past and since 1993, his embalmed body has been kept in a glass casket in his home province. It was a political risk in a country where democracy advocates celebrate Marcos’s removal each year.

“The SC lifted the status quo ante order and allowed the burial of the remains and the president adheres to the ruling of the high court”.

The petitioners also urged the detention of Marcos’ heirs and military officials involved “until they have satisfactorily cleansed themselves of the contemptuous act or until such further orders of the Court”.

The petition said they should be fined and detained for mocking the legal process that gave petitioners 15 days to appeal the court’s November 8 ruling allowing the burial.

Marcos had headed a dictatorship that became infamous for corruption and brutality, as well as extreme luxury on his and his family’s part.

More than a thousand protesters march along Katipunan Ave in indignation of the #MarcosBurial.

Opponents planned to appeal the court decision within a 15-day period but were pre-empted by the surprise burial.

They cite a clause that states “personnel who were convicted by fine judgment of an offense involving moral turpitude”, were disqualified, according to a statement released by the coalition.