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Duterte to anti-Marcos burial protesters: 'Live with your grief'

November 21, 2016 | 9:47pm

Duterte to anti-Marcos burial protesters: 'Live with your grief'

In this photo provided by the Office of the Army Chief Public Affairs Headquarters Philippine Army (OACPA HPA), soldiers prepare to fold the flag-draped casket of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos during his burial at the Heroes' Cemetery in Taguig City, east of Manila, Philippines, Friday, Nov. 18, 2016.

OACPA HPA via AP

LIMA, Peru — Despite the outcry over the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, President Rodrigo Duterte stood by his decision to allow the interment and even remarked that those who cannot forgive are living with “hate.”

Duterte said Marcos’ burial was “all legal” since the late president was a former soldier and is, therefore, qualified to be interred at the Heroes’ Cemetery.

“There was really a deep wound somewhere in the country. But for those who cannot really forgive, that’s the difficult part. You just have to live with your grief and that grief is hate. That’s the problem,” Duterte told the Philippine media delegation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit here.

“I have only two answers: He (Marcos) was a president, he was a soldier. His name appears on the record, it was recognized. He had a valor medal for his deeds. Many are saying it was fake — but his rival is a politician,” he added.

Duterte said while some argue that Marcos was not a hero, it merely involves one side’s word against another’s.

“I have not read the Supreme Court (ruling allowing the burial) but I would stick to what I have said all along,” he said.

The late dictator’s remains were buried on November 18 in a private ceremony that shocked Martial Law victims and human rights advocates. The burial was held 10 days after the Supreme Court ruled that there is no legal impediment to interring the former president at the Heroes’ Cemetery.

Duterte claimed that he did not know when exactly Marcos would be buried.

“In all honesty, I’m telling you: I did not know anything. They (Marcos family) asked me when would be the appropriate time for me? I said: ‘It’s up to you,’” the president said.

“I did not ask. Why would I ask? I allowed it already so what’s it to me? What would I get if I have known in advance whether he will be there for the interment on that day?” he added.

Duterte was also unfazed by criticisms that he did not respect the memory of his mother Soledad, who was a leading figure of the anti-Marcos Yellow Friday Movement in Davao City.

“You know, I am a public employee. I decide on what is lawful and what is not. I am now called upon or I was called upon to decide whether it would be lawful for Marcos to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani or it would be an illegal act,” the president said.

“My mother’s cause or causes she fought in her life, it was hers. But just because she is my mother, (it does not mean that I) cannot state to you that Marcos cannot be buried because according to my mother, he was a dictator. Because she had the same issues with the yellow group all over the Philippines,” he added.

Duterte said he has no reason to disallow the burial of Marcos at the Heroes’ Cemetery. He also claimed that 98 percent of Ilocano-speaking Filipinos were disappointed because of the previous administration’s refusal to give Marcos a heroes’ burial.

Asked to react to questions about the use of government funds in the burial, Duterte said the issue is “immaterial.”

“When you bury a person, you incur expenses. That’s Libingan ng mga Bayani eh. So he’s entitled to even a single centavo that you have to spend there because you’re burying a person who rightfully should be there,” the president said.

“He’s a soldier and the only reason why I would think that a soldier would be buried there is because he has fought for his country. And a president maybe because he also worked for his government.”