Duterte prefers burial in Davao, not Libingan

DUTERTE MAUSOLEUM President Duterte pays respects to his departed parents in the family mausoleum in Davao City.
—MALACAÑANGPHOTO

When the time comes for him to be laid to rest, there will be no controversy over where he will spend eternity.

President Duterte has no desire to be buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City, where the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos wants the strongman’s remains buried, stirring protests.

READ: Duterte wants to be buried beside his parents

Mr. Duterte prefers to be laid to rest beside his parents, Vicente and Soledad, in Davao City.

“There is no greater honor for me than to be laid to rest beside my mother and father,” he told reporters in Davao City when he visited his family’s mausoleum on All Saints’ Day.

He rejected the idea of being buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani, the cemetery reserved for former Presidents, soldiers and heroes.

“Susmaryosep,” he said. “Let them have it. We would just argue about that.”

To be buried anywhere else but with his family is not an option for him.

“As a matter of fact, it would be a terrible thing to be buried in any other [place], for me,” he said.

This was just his personal opinion and he was not referring to any person, he added.

Marcos issue

A controversy is brewing over the Marcos family’s desire to bury Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Mr. Duterte has given his permission for this on the grounds that Marcos was a former soldier, and said this was what the law says. The issue, he argued, is not whether Marcos could be considered a hero or not.

But the move has been challenged in the Supreme Court, which has effectively stopped the burial while it is hearing the petition.

Critics of the burial said Marcos, who declared martial law and ruled for 20 years, did not deserve to be laid to rest at Libingan ng mga Bayani given the human rights abuses and plunder of government coffers during his term.