Marcos timeline from birth to burial

Ferdinand Marcos. AFP FILE PHOTO

Sept. 11, 1917.  Ferdinand Edralin Marcos is born in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte province.

Dec. 30, 1965.  Marcos is inaugurated as the 10th President of the Philippines.

Sept. 21, 1972. Marcos signs Proclamation No. 1081 which imposes martial law nationwide. A day after the actual announcement on Sept. 23, about 100 of 400 personalities are detained in Camp Crame. The military shuts down mass media, flights are canceled, incoming overseas calls are prohibited and curfew is strictly enforced. Marcos subsequently issues General Order No. 1, s. 1972, transferring all powers to the President who is to rule by decree.

Jan. 17, 1981. Marcos signs Proclamation No. 2045 to lift the implementation of martial law ahead of the first papal visit of Pope John Paul II in February.

Feb. 22, 1986. Millions of Filipinos converge on Edsa to overthrow Marcos

Feb. 25, 1986. Marcos and his family, together with some government officials, flee Malacañang for Clark in Pampanga before going into exile in Hawaii.

Sept. 28, 1989. Marcos dies in Hawaii at age 72, after a long battle with heart, lung and kidney ailments.

1992. President Fidel Ramos directs Interior Secretary Rafael Alunan III to represent the government in discussing the return of the dictator’s remains to the country. Four conditions are agreed upon: (1) The body would be flown straight from Hawaii to Ilocos Norte; (2) Marcos would be given honors befitting a major, his last rank in the Armed Forces of the Philippines; (3) Marcos’ body would not be paraded in Metro Manila; and (4) There would be no burial at Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Sept. 7, 1993. Marcos’ remains arrive in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. No military honors are accorded. Later, his remains are preserved in a crypt at the Marcos mansion and mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte.

March 2011. 216 members of the House of Representatives led by Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III (now deceased) sign a resolution urging President Benigno Aquino III to allow Marcos’ burial at Libingan. Aquino declines to comment and instead orders Vice President Jejomar Binay to study the proposal.

June 2011. After conducting a survey by text and e-mail on the issue in April, Binay recommends to Aquino that Marcos be given full military honors and buried in Ilocos Norte.

May 23, 2016. Fulfilling his campaign promise, President Duterte says he would allow the burial of Marcos at Libingan not because the latter was a hero, but because he used to be a soldier, adding that the contentious issue “has long created a division among our people.”

Aug. 15. Martial law victims, led by former Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo and Neri Colmenares, file a petition with the Supreme Court to stop Marcos’ burial at Libingan.

Aug. 19.  Coalition Against Marcos Burial, led by former Commission on Human Rights chair and martial law victim Loretta Ann Rosales, files a petition to stop the planned burial.

Aug. 22. Ninoy Aquino Movement, led by its chair Heherson Alvarez, and other groups file a petition with the high court to stop Marcos’ burial at Libingan.

Aug. 23. Supreme Court issues a 20-day status quo ante order blocking Marcos’ burial at Libingan.

Aug. 31. SC justices zero in on the question whether Libingan is a cemetery for heroes or a memorial for soldiers during the first day of oral arguments.

Sept. 7. On the second day of oral arguments, presenters of Marcos’ case claim that Duterte’s move to have the dictator buried at Libingan is a political decision and the “emotions and feelings of the victims have no relevance” to the case.

Oct. 18. SC extends the effectivity of the status quo ante order until Nov. 8.

Nov. 8.  The high tribunal, voting 9-5 with one abstention, dismisses the petition filed by anti-Marcos groups and personalities to block Mr. Duterte’s order.

Nov. 14. The Senate fails to adopt Senate Resolution No. 86 by Sen. Risa Hontiveros seeking to express the sense of the chamber that Marcos was unfit to be buried at Libingan. Eight senators voted for the resolution, six voted against it while six others abstained from voting. —COMPILED BY INQUIRER RESEARCH

Sources: Inquirer Archives and Official Gazette