Panelo: No growing protest vs Marcos burial, just ‘vocal minority’

Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

Chief presidential legal adviser Salvador Panelo on Monday downplayed protests against the secrecy-shrouded burial of deposed tyrant Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB).

Panelo called the rallyists a “vocal minority” and denied that the protests were growing.

“It is not true that there is a growing protest against the burial, what we have is a vocal minority exercising its democratic right to express a grievance allowed and guaranteed by the Constitution,” Panelo said in a statement.

“President [Rodrigo] Duterte is upholding such right. The clash of ideas is democracy in action,” he added.

The clandestine burial of Marcos at the heroes’ cemetery last Friday took the nation off guard and sparked protests in various parts of the country. The late dictator’s interment at the LNMB, which came almost 30 years after he was toppled in the historic Edsa People Power Revolution, was marked by full military honors, including a 21-gun salute.

In Manila, protesters led by millennials converged at the site of the peaceful 1986 revolt.

READ: Millennials lead protests vs Marcos burial

Bigger nationwide protests were set on Friday, Nov. 25, in time for Duterte’s arrival from Peru. RAM/rga

READ: Bigger protests vs Marcos burial set