ShareThisMANILA – President Aquino has rejected a burial for the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
There will be no state honors for Marcos under the Aquino administration, the president said, pointing out that it would be “the height of injustice” to martial law victims if he is accorded state honors.
The Marcos family immediately assailed Aquino for his decision.
Marcos’ son and namesake, Senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., expressed dismay over the non-granting of state funeral for his father.
”It’s not an act of a leader who should promote unity for this country,” Marcos said, adding that Mr. Aquino has no word of honor.
Sen. Marcos said Aquino had taken them for a ride with his earlier directive to Vice President Jejomar Binay to look into calls for a state burial for the late dictator.
Binay recommended military honors for Marcos but not a state funeral or hero’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. He also said the Marcoses had agreed to bury the late president in their hometown in Batac, Ilocos Norte but this was denied by the Marcos family.
“It is very hard to deal in good faith with somebody who does not have one word on the subject. It turns out that all of these discussions and debates were nothing more than a zarzuela,” Marcos said.
He recalled that the President had even promised voters in Northern Luzon – the bailiwick of the Marcoses – to have an open mind on the issue.
“That is why for me he has wasted a very good opportunity to unify the nation. The work of the President is not to play partisan politics but to unite the nation and that is apparently not his tendency,” Marcos said.
“He would like to continue what divisions we have in our country. He obviously does not want to heal those divisions. He wants to widen those divisions, which just brings us to the conclusion that he is not a natural leader,” he added.
“I am very disappointed that we cannot count on our President to have one word. I cannot count on our President to exercise and exhibit leadership, unifying our country,” Marcos said.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, however, said that he understands the feelings of President Aquino.
”I would understand the feelings of the President. He is the son of the man who was slain,” said Enrile, the defense secretary of Marcos.
Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, one of the top critics of former President Marcos, was assassinated at the tarmac of the former Manila International Airport upon his arrival from a three-year exile on August 21, 1983.
”Well, you have to understand that that’s a very sensitive issue as far as the two families are concerned and I think we have to understand him and respect his feelings,” Enrile said.
Enrile, one of the government leaders who spearheaded ouster move that forced Marcos to leave the country in 1986, said the Marcos family should not take it against the President.
”You know that’s natural reaction of a son who loves his father. You cannot separate that feeling. That will linger on,” Enrile said.
Before the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP), President Aquino y said there will be no state funeral or any kind of state honors for the late president.