SC asked to order exhumation of Marcos remains

MANILA, Philippines — An urgent motion was filed before the Supreme Court to order the exhumation of the remains of former President Ferdinand Marcos which was buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani last week.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman asked the high court to issue such a resolution as the burial last Friday was "hasty and surreptitious."

The lawmaker stressed that the interment was premature, void and irregular considering that the lifting of the status quo ante order on the Marcos burial was not yet final.

Lagman also asked for an examination of the remains of the ousted dictator buried at the heroes' cemetery to ensure that it is not just a wax replica of him.

"It is respectfully prayed that the Honorable Supreme Court issue a resolution... Subjecting whatever is exhumed to a forensic examination in order to determine with certainty that the 'mortal remains' of the late dictator Marcos, not any other artifact or a wax replica of him, were not interred in the Libingan ng mga Bayani," the motion read.

The opposition lawmaker also asked the high tribunal to file a petition for contempt against members of the Marcos family as well as military and police officials who conspired and facilitated the Marcos burial.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and other activists also urged the SC to hold Marcos' widow Imelda, their three children, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and two military officials in contempt for "the hasty, shady and tricky" burial on Friday of the long-dead president at the Heroes' Cemetery.

They should be fined and detained for mocking the legal process that gave petitioners 15 days to appeal the court's November 8 ruling allowing the burial, the petition said.

The secrecy-shrouded burial at the cemetery reserved for presidents, soldiers and national artists shocked democracy advocates and human rights victims, prompting street protests across Manila and in other cities.

Marcos, whose rule was marked by massive rights violations and plunder, was ousted by a largely nonviolent army-backed uprising in 1986. At the height of the political turbulence, he flew to Hawaii, where he lived with his wife and children until he died in 1989.

Groups opposed to the burial called for a national day of protest on Friday at Manila's Rizal Park and in other parts of the country. Organizers called on Filipinos to protest against the burial of Marcos in the cemetery and to hold President Rodrigo Duterte accountable for allowing the burial and the Supreme Court for obscuring "the crimes of the dictator."

— with reports from Associated Press; Video by Efigenio Toledo IV; Infographic by Jonathan Asuncion