Libingan burial was FM’s dying wish – Imee

MANILA, Philippines - It was the dying wish of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, his daughter Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos said yesterday.

In an interview on GMA-7’s “Balitanghali,” Imee said her father made the wish on his deathbed 27 years ago. “It’s the wish of my father before he died to be buried at the LNMB,” she said, referring to the Libingan by its initials.

Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 or three years after being ousted in a military-backed popular uprising in February 1986.

As this developed, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said a Libingan burial for Marcos will proceed before the end of the year.

“The best we can say is it will be within the year,” he said, without elaborating.

On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court voted 9-5 to allow a Libingan burial for Marcos, saying President Duterte committed no abuse of discretion when he ordered a heroes’ burial for the dictator.

In its ruling, the SC also said the large number of votes received by Marcos’ son and namesake in the vice presidential race indicated the people’s having gotten over the trauma of martial law.

Imee said they have already received a copy of the SC order but have yet to finalize burial arrangements.

She reiterated the burial she desired for her father should be one for an ordinary soldier and not for a head of state or a hero.

She also dismissed speculation that the glass-encased body displayed in the family mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte was just a wax replica. 

The governor said her father’s remains were skillfully preserved with chemicals.

She explained a burial for her father at the heroes’ cemetery would start a healing process that Duterte has been pursuing even with communists and secessionist rebels. Marcos vehemently denied a Libingan burial for her father was Duterte’s way of repaying a political favor.

She said there’s no reason for the administration to isolate the Ilocanos, if it is vigorously pursuing peace with the left and the Muslim rebels.

The SC decision has unleashed a barrage of protests, especially from victims of human rights abuses during martial law. The torture victims filed petitions with the SC to stop Duterte from setting into motion an order for a Marcos burial at the Libingan.

They vowed to appeal the SC ruling. 

Rep. Edcel Lagman, a human rights lawyer, filed a manifestation with the SC last Thursday asking the high court to restrain the Marcos family from burying their patriarch’s remains at the Libingan while an appeal against the burial is being readied.

The President said Marcos deserved a heroes’ burial because he had been a leader of the country and fought in World War II.