Marcos burial not a priority for Aquino at this time–Palace

Philippine former first lady Imelda Marcos looks at the glass coffin of her late husband and president Ferdinand Marcos in Batac, Ilocos Norte province north of Manila in this file photo prior to the start of her election campaign sortie in the province. Mrs. Marcos ran for Congress in the May 10, 2010 elections. AFP

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III is in no rush to finally decide on funeral arrangements for Ferdinand Marcos 22 years after he died and 18 years after it was kept in a refrigerated crypt, said Malacañang.

Secretary Ricky Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, said on Thursday that President Aquino would rather resolve more pressing issues before going over the many factors and sentiments regarding the burial of the dictator’s remains.

Carandang said the opinions of those concerned with the Marcos burial issue should have to be considered by the President even after Vice President Jejomar Binay recommended to Mr. Aquino the burial of Marcos in Ilocos Norte with military honors. The President has asked Binay to study and propose a way to bury Marcos in response to the Marcos family’s revived plea for the remains to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“[So] all of these have to be taken into consideration before the President makes a final decision,” Carandang said during the day’s news briefing in Malacañang.

“And if you think about it, there are many more urgent issues that we need to attend to before the Marcos burial, so while there are recommendations and there are opinions, and the President is mulling many of these opinions and recommendations, I think he prefers to focus on other things right now,” he added.

Asked if burying Marcos quietly has been one of the options being considered, Carandang said, “I don’t know what the options are at this point, the option that’s on the table is the recommendation of the Vice President that he be buried in Ilocos with military honors, so that is what’s being considered.”

President Aquino’s father, the former senator Benigno Aquino Jr. was shot dead by Marcos’ military on the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport on August 1983. Three years later, Marcos was ousted in a “people power” style and military-backed revolt.

Thousands of victims of martial law abuses have opposed state funeral honors for Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery).

But over 200 congressmen or members of the House of Representatives signed a resolution recommending that he be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in recognition of his “service” to the country as a president, as a member of the guerilla forces against the Japanese in World War II, and as a “patriot.”