AFTER more than 27 years, former president Ferdinand E. Marcos was accorded a proper burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Without much fanfare that marked a state funeral service, the late strongman was buried past noon on Friday, finally ending the issue on his burial that had long divided the nation.
The Marcos family requested a simple and private funeral rites capped by a 21-gun salute from the military honors.
Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said the instructions were to ensure the late president would be properly buried.
Marcos’ burial was carried out shortly after the Supreme Court, voting 9-5, ruled in favor of a hero’s burial for the former president. This, amid the howl of protests from some Senators and Martial Law victims.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel said Marcos “is not a hero.” Vice President Leni Robredo has echoed the views of Pimentel also saying “he is no hero.”
In a statement, Robredo said its “like a thief in the night, the Marcos family deliberately hid the information of burying former President Marcos today from the Filipino people.”
The hero’s burial of Marcos, if any, has only reopened old wounds inflicted by his 21-year rule marked by human rights abuses.
Marcos and his cronies allegedly plundered up to $10 billion from the state coffers.