Miriam wants referendum on Marcos burial, OKs Arroyo house arrest

DAGUPAN CITY—Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Sunday said she was open to the possibility of granting a hero’s burial to the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, father and namesake of her runningmate, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Santiago said a consensus must be reached regarding calls to bury the Marcos patriarch at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“Maganda siguro mag-referendum tayo. Kung ano sabi ng mayorya yun ang sundin natin. Tama na ang bangayan,” she said during the fast-talk segment of the third and last presidential debate at the University of Pangasinan in this city.

In an earlier statement after declaring her presidential bid and announcing the younger Marcos as her runnning mate, Santiago said she would not oppose a consensus “to bury one of our former presidents” and that “we should let go of the past.”

“Why should we allow something de facto, such a fact, to disrupt the unity of the Filipino people? I myself have no objection. My own father is buried in Libingan ng mga Bayani. He was a guerrilla captain. I will not as an ordinary citizen hold it against the community if the consensus by that time is to bury one of our former presidents [in Libingan ng mga Bayani]. Why should we let a dead man control the actuations of the living and its new millennial generation? We should let go of the past,” she then said.

The feisty senator also answered in the affirmative when asked if she was in favor of a house arrest for another former president, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“Oh yes, definitely,” she said.

The 68-year-old Arroyo had been in hospital detention at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City since October 2012 after being indicted for plunder over the alleged misuse of P366 million in intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

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