Give Aquino time to read Binay’s recommendations—Palace aide

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III has yet to decide what to do with the recommendation to bury dictator Ferdinand Marcos with full military honors in his home province of Ilocos Norte, not at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Malacanañg on Friday said that it would be issuing a statement on the matter of Vice President Jejomar Binay’s proposal on Saturday. It was expected to say whether Aquino has approved the recommendation, which Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. described as a “reasonable compromise.”

“Let us consider the personal history,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over the government-run radio station dzRB.

“Let us allow (Mr. Aquino) the time to go over the recommendations of Vice President Binay,” Valte said.

Aquino’s family has consistently blamed his father’s assassination in 1983 on Marcos. The late former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was a staunch critic of the dictator and was thrown in jail after Marcos declared martial law in 1972.

Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 and his remains, transferred to the Philippines in 1993, have been kept in a refrigerated crypt in Batac, Ilocos Norte, while the family awaits official permission for burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig, Metro Manila.