2 FM kids settle for Ilocos burial

Instead of a hero’s burial at a military cemetery, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos yesterday said she and her younger brother, Ilocos Norte Gov. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., prefer that their father be buried in his home province of Ilocos Norte.

Marcos said she and her brother wanted their father, former President Ferdinand Marcos, to be buried anywhere in Ilocos Norte to end the long-running debate on whether he should be accorded a hero’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City.

"Bongbong and I just want to have him buried in Ilocos Norte to give his soul peace," Marcos told a media forum in Quezon City.

After ruling for 20 years with an iron fist, Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in 1986 by a massive protest triggered by a military uprising led by then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and then Armed Forces vice chief and Philippine Constabulary chief Lt. Gen. Fidel Ramos.

Marcos died in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sept. 28, 1989. His remains were allowed to be returned to the country in 1996 during the Ramos administration.

His body is still kept in a refrigerated crypt in a mausoleum in his hometown in Batac, Ilocos Norte.

Since then his widow, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, had been insisting that her husband be buried with honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In 1998, fierce public outrage forced then President Joseph Estrada — a Marcos sympathizer — to drop his plan to give Marcos a hero’s burial.

However, nearly 13 years after his father’s death, Imee Marcos said she and her brother want their father buried and leave it to history to judge his "contributions to the country."

The young Marcos’s position contradicted a statement made last Wednesday by family spokeswoman Cherry Cobarrubias that the former first lady and her children still wanted a hero’s burial for the late strongman.

"We believe that this is now the right time to allow his burial there," Imee said. "We believe that this is the appropriate timing for the President to do the right thing."

Cobarrubias said Marcos deserved to be buried among his fellow soldiers and other heroes of the Republic because he was a former soldier who fought against Japanese invaders during World War II.

"We are appealing to President Arroyo and Defense Secretary (Angelo) Reyes not to deprive the late President Marcos his right to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani," she said, adding that Marcos had a "colorful career as a defender of the country."

A few years before he was ousted, Marcos claimed that he was a bemeddalled army soldier who led a guerrilla resistance group against the Japanese and even produced several medals to prove it.

His claim was later exposed to be a hoax.

Cobarrubias contended that the military pension Imelda Marcos receives, however, proved that the Philippine military still recognizes her husband’s alleged war exploits.