Marcos’ burial splits Ramos, Duterte

LIMA/MANILA—President Duterte on Sunday acknowledged that the Ferdinand Marcos regime had left a deep wound in the nation’s soul, but he stood firm on his decision authorizing the burial of the dictator at Libingan ng mga Bayani, not as a hero but as a soldier and former President.

“So there was really a deep wound somewhere in the country. But for those who cannot really forgive, that’s the hard part. You just have to live with your grief, and that grief is hate. That is the problem,” Mr. Duterte told reporters after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima.

“There are only two criteria [in law to be buried at Libingan]. And the problem is he fits both counts: as soldier and/or president,” Mr. Duterte said.

He said the question of whether Marcos, whose body had been preserved in the family mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte province, was a hero was a case of “a word against their word.”

In Manila on Monday, former President Fidel V. Ramos joined the chorus of protests against the burial, carried out with stealth by immediate members of the Marcos family three decades after his death while in exile in Hawaii, declaring that move was “an insult to veterans” and a trivialization of the sacrifices of uniformed men.

“Why did the sneaky burial happen without you knowing too much about it? Because there was advance planning, call it connivance, led by the Marcos family, together with some local police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines officials,” Ramos told reporters.

Because of this, he said, the Duterte administration was “losing support, they are losing friends.”

More than an apology

Ramos, 88, also addressed criticism by Marcos’ daughter Imee that he himself should apologize for martial law atrocities because he was the chief of the Philippine Constabulary at the time.

He said he had atoned for his sins by leading the Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986 that ousted Marcos.

“I hope you people remember your history. My apology was more than an apology. In the Christian tradition, you confess and then you atone,” said the former general.

Ramos rejected Imee’s claim that she and her siblings were still young during the martial law years and had nothing to apologize for.

He said that Imee was one year older than his eldest daughter, who was 18 at that time, and was even elected president of Kabataang Barangay a few years after the declaration of martial law.

Asked what should now be done, Ramos said, “The ball is now with the Supreme Court.”

Relatives of victims of martial law abuses on Monday petitioned the high tribunal to exhume Marcos’ body.

They said they had not been given enough time to appeal the high tribunal’s 9-5-1 ruling upholding Mr. Duterte’s decision to authorize the burial.

“How can a plunderer and despot and violator of human rights be given that honor of being buried in the memorial of good men?” said Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, brother of an abducted anti-Marcos labor leader who was never seen again.

All about law

Mr. Duterte took exception to a newspaper article that noted the irony of the President’s own late mother Soledad Duterte, a leading figure of Yellow Friday Movement in Davao City, having protested Marcos’ rule during the final days of martial law.

“You know, I am a public employee. I decide on what is lawful and what is not. I am now called upon or I was called upon to decide whether it would be lawful for Marcos to be buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani or it would be an illegal act,” he said.

“My mother’s cause or the causes she fought in her life, that’s hers. But just because she is my mother I cannot state to you that Marcos cannot be buried because according to my mother he was a dictator,” Mr. Duterte said.

The President insisted that he had not known about the date of Marcos’ burial at Libingan, which had been marked by secrecy and triggered street demonstrations.

“In all honesty, I’m telling you: I knew nothing about it. They only asked me when the appropriate time for me would be. I said, ‘Do as you wish,’” he said.

Being a hero not a criterion

“I didn’t ask them, and why would I ask? I allowed it already so what’s it to me? What would I get if I have known in advance whether he will be there for the interment on that day?” Mr. Duterte said.

He said as much as 98 percent of Ilocandia, or Ilocano-speaking Filipinos, harbored sentiments about why Marcos was being treated “unfairly.”

“To me, again, I have only two answers: He was a President; he was a soldier. His name appears on the record, it was recognized, he had a valor medal for his deeds,” said Mr. Duterte, whose campaign platform when he ran in the May presidential election included a closure to the Marcos burial issue.

Peaceful, private burial

In a press briefing, Col. Edgard Arevalo, Armed Forces spokesperson, said the military was merely acceding to the wish of the Marcos family to keep the burial peaceful, solemn and private.

“It’s not secrecy … its primary consideration is the wish of the grieving family,” he stressed.

Arevalo said the burial should not come as a surprise, citing the chronology of events that led to it.

He said even the spokesperson of the Supreme Court acknowledged that there was no motion for reconsideration filed in court, thereby removing all or any prohibition with regard to the full implementation of the burial. —WITH REPORTS FROM JOCELYN R. UY, CYNTHIA D. BALANA AND AFP

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