It’s a go, unless SC says stop

The hero’s burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos will push through unless the Supreme Court orders to stop it, Malacañang said on Wednesday.

No final date has been set for the controversial burial, but presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said preparations for it were underway.

“It seems that everything is starting to move according to arrangements, so unless there is a [temporary restraining order] or anything like that, it will proceed as planned,” Abella told a press briefing.

President Duterte earlier gave the go-ahead for Marcos to be laid to rest at Libingan ng mga Bayani, saying he was qualified as he was a former soldier and head of state, and government regulations allow it.

The Philippine Army has been directed to provide military honors accorded for a President.

But human rights victims under Marcos’s brutal dictatorship regime have protested the decision, and subsequently asked the Supreme Court to stop the move. The court had scheduled oral arguments on petition next week.

Campaign promise

Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar stressed Mr. Duterte made a campaign promise to have Marcos’ remains transferred to the hero’s cemetery, and that the public should respect his decision.

“People voted for him and he won. So we have to respect the mandate of the people, and the mandate of the people was there for a reason,” Andanar said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

Nevertheless, he said Malacanang also respected the petitions filed questioning the President’s move.

“We will wait and see what happens,” he added.

The Philippine Army has already received a directive to provide Marcos with the military honors accorded a President. These would include a vigil, bugler or drummer, a firing party, a military host or pallbearers, escort and transportation, and arrival and departure honors.

The Marcos family has prepared a bronze casket for his burial and loyalists are preparing to go home for the event, the Inquirer earlier reported.

Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, three years after a “people power” revolt ended his two-decade rule marked by massive rights violations. Thousands of rights activists died during his rule, and the Marcos family was believed to have stolen billions of dollars from government coffers.

His widow, Imelda Marcos and his children were subsequently allowed to return home, where they have since regained political clout. In 1993, then President Fidel Ramos allowed Marcos’s body to be brought home, on the condition that he would be buried in Ilocos Norte.

Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo earlier said he did not think the agreement during Ramos’ time could “supplant the regulation” allowing Marcos’ burial at the heroes’ cemetery.

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