DOJ looking at legal aspects of VP’s statement on Marcos Sr.’s remains

Justice Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla  (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Monday said the Department of Justice (DOJ) is studying the legal consequences of Vice President Sara Duterte’s statement regarding the exhumation of the remains of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. and dispose the same in the West Philippine Sea.

Remulla described as “very disturbing,” the statement made by the Vice President during her press conference last week.

“That is very disturbing if a person can think that way,” Remulla said.

“It desecrates the peaceful state that he (Marcos Sr.) must be in, having already perished and to disturb the body, there are many other moral principles that are being violated. We are looking at the legal aspects also. We are conducting a study,” Remulla told reporters on the sidelines of the 2nd anniversary of the Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations 2022-27 at the Manila Hotel.

In a press conference Friday, the Vice President said she posted a message in a chat group with Senator Imee Marcos that she would exhume the remains of her father and throw it to the West Philippine Sea if the political attacks against her continue.

It was the Vice President’s father, then president Rodrigo Duterte who allowed the burial of Marcos Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani despite protests from Martial Law victims.

Remulla said, the Vice President’s statement “does not augur well for the dignity of the office. We have to treat the office as sacred in many ways and to speak that way is unbecoming.”