Anti-Marcos group renews call for exhumation of strongman's remains at Heroes Cemetery

MANILA, Philippines — Exactly a year after the controversial funeral, an anti-Marcos group on Saturday renewed its strong call for the exhumation of remains of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Heroes’ Cemetery.

Marcos was buried with military honors at the Heroes’ Cemetery in a surprise ceremony on November 18, 2016, almost 30 years after his death in Hawaii. The interment triggered scattered protests around Manila.

The burial happened after the Supreme Court dismissed objections from human rights groups. President Rodrigo Duterte, in a bid to fulfill an election campaign promise, had given orders in August last year that the burial could proceed.

READ: Marcos buried at Libingan in 'surprise' ceremony l Hero's burial for Marcos: How did we get here?

In a statement, #BlockMarcos group urged anew the government to exhume the body of the late ruler as they remembered the day of Marcos’ interment as “a day of outrage” and “a day of resistance.”

“We mark this day with a symbolic action to renew our call to unearth the dictator and all the remnants of tyranny that continue to haunt us until today,” the group said.

“We relive the indignation we felt at the Marcoses’ callous desecration of our history and the memory of those who died fighting Marcos’ martial law. We remember their shameless disregard for justice, lest we lose sight of our duty to confront the threat of a complete regress into dictatorship that we are now facing,” they added.

Thousands of suspected communist rebels and political enemies were killed after Marcos imposed martial law in 1972.

Accused of committing massive human rights abuses and plundering billions of dollars from state coffers, Marcos, who ruled the country for 20 years, was ousted by a bloodless “People Power Revolution” in 1986.

Despite the death of the dictator in exile in Hawaii in 1989, his family has been making a political comeback with his widow, Imelda, and their children becoming powerful politicians in Ilocos Norte, his home province.

In the same statement on Saturday, the anti-Marcos movement, in an apparent swipe at Duterte, condemned what they said was “the looming return of strongman rule.”

“We stood together to warn those in power that we would not hesitate to occupy our cities to block any threat of authoritarianism,” they said.

“Today, we gather once again to remind this regime and its enablers that we will never grow tired of taking to the streets until Marcos’ remains—and all the horrors of dictatorship that he symbolizes—are exhumed from the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” they added.

“Only a genuine, people-centered democracy can guarantee that no dictator will rise to power ever again. We therefore reiterate our call for the end of elite democracy and for meaningful system change.”

Duterte, a hugely popular firebrand leader who had expressed admiration for Marcos, has been criticized for his alleged strongman tendencies given his his extreme contempt for his dissidents.

Last September, thousands rallied to condemn what they said an emerging dictatorship under Duterte’s rule as well as his brutal war on drugs that has killed many suspected drug traffickers.

READ: Thousands rally for and against Duterte