LAOAG CITY, Philippines – (UPDATE) Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos is leaving to God the decision where to bury her late husband, Ferdinand Marcos.
Mrs. Marcos issued the statement, a day after Vice President Jejomar Binay has recommended to President Benigno Aquino III that the ousted dictator be buried in Ilocos Norte with full military honors.
But if Mrs. Marcos’ presence in Sarrat town on Saturday was any indication, she might be considering his birthplace as his final resting place.
Mrs. Marcos arrived in Ilocos Norte on Friday night and went to Sarrat on Saturday morning to attend a church event.
“Maybe there is a divine plan as to where Marcos will be buried. And I am now in Sarrat, his birthplace,” she said, indicating she may be considering a burial there. But Mrs. Marcos said moments later that she was leaving the decision to God.
Batac City Mayor Jeffrey Nalupta said he was hopeful that the Marcos family would eventually choose Batac, the birthplace of Marcos’ father, Mariano, and the family’s official residence, as the burial site.
Marcos’ body has been kept in a refrigerated crypt in the Marcos compound in Batac since 1993, four years after he died in exile in Hawaii. The crypt and the Marcos museum are among the tourist attractions in Ilocos Norte.
Members of the Marcos family were reportedly meeting this weekend to discuss Binay’s recommendation but it was not known if the meeting would be held in Ilocos Norte or elsewhere.
Marcos’ eldest daughter, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, said the family has yet to talk with Binay, who left Friday night for the United States until June 19.
“We are happy that after 22 years, the burial is finally being talked about. With prayer and compassion, my family and the country will hopefully find a closure,” Governor Marcos said in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday.
Mrs. Marcos arrived in the province on Friday night and made Sarrat her first stop on Saturday for the jubilee celebration of the Diocese of Laoag at the Sta. Monica Church.
Asked whether Batac was also on the list of possible burial places, Mrs. Marcos replied: “Batac is the [family’s] official residence. We will follow the divine plan; I have always followed the divine plan. We will make the final decision. [That decision] will depend on what heaven says.”
She said while Marcos deserved a hero’s burial, “it is ultimately the Divine who rules who is a hero and not men.”
“We are not sure whether all heroes [at the Libingan ng mga Bayani] will go to heaven,” she added, referring to the controversy generated by calls for the dictator to be buried in the Libingan ng mgra Bayani in Taguig City, Metro Manila.
That Mrs. Marcos is apparently considering Sarrat is no surprise because it was where Ferdinand Marcos was born and raised.
The Marcos family’s two-story bahay na bato (old stone house) was abandoned after the People Power Revolution of 1986 that ended Marcos’ 20-year rule. It was later restored and converted into a museum.
Marcos’ youngest daughter, Irene Marcos-Araneta, was married in Sarrat’s Sta. Monica Church in 1983.
Fabian Ver, a relative and Marcos’ childhood friend who served as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines during his regime, was also born in Sarrat and was buried there in 1998 after his remains were flown in from Bangkok, Thailand.
Batac’s Mayor Nalupta said he was pinning his hopes for a Marcos burial in Batac on the fact that was Batac the Marcoses’ political launching pad from the time of Marcos’ father, Mariano, then a representative of Ilocos Norte’s second congressional district.
Marcos’ children, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Gov. Imee Marcos, also occupied the same position. Mrs. Marcos, a native of Leyte, made Batac her second home when she ran and won a congressional seat representing her husband’s home province.
Nalupta said he would defer to the judgment of the Marcos family as to where Marcos should be buried.
“Hopefully, within Batac. If not, there won’t be much impact on our revenues. We are not dependent on tourism income,” he said.
Nalupta, however, acknowledged that the Marcos mansion and the former President’s crypt have been major tourist drawers for the city.