Mountain-top burial site for Marcos eyed

BATAC, ILOCOS NORTE — Former strongman Ferdinand Marcos may not be laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani at Fort Bonifacio, but his family is working to ensure that he is buried in style.

The Marcos family is reportedly planning to develop a mountain-top property into a memorial park similar to the United States’ Arlington Cemetery where they will finally bury the Marcos patriarch. The former dictator’s remains have been kept in a refrigerated crypt at his "Balay ti Amianan" residence here since his death on Sept. 28, 1988.

Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC is the burial ground of all US presidents.

The site preferred by the Marcos family is a forested, mountainous area in Barangay Colo-Mabaleng here. The property is close to the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) which the former president founded in the early 1980s and named after his father, once a congressman of Ilocos Norte.

Ilocos Norte Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office senior forest management sector specialist Artemio C. Dumlao (not this writer) told The STAR that a helicopter landing pad is already under construction at a plateau near the highest point of the property.

Dumlao said the MMSU earlier sought tree-cutting permits from the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to clear the property, which overlooks the picturesque towns of Paoay and Batac and the South China Sea.

The Marcoses’ "Malacañang of the North" in Barangay Suba in Laoag City also overlooks the majestic Paoay Natural Lake and the South China Sea. It was offered for public use after the Marcos family fled the country in the aftermath of the 1986 EDSA people power revolt.

Marcos followers in Batac are also looking forward to their "idol’s" final rest, whether it be in his hometown or in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. A Batac resident said in Ilocano that "they should allow (Marcos) to be buried there (Libingan ng mga Bayani). Anyway, he is dead now."

But retired Navy Capt. Danilo Vizmanos, a victim of the martial law regime of Marcos, said "Libingan (ng mga Bayani) is for heroes, not for dictators."

Vizmanos said he believes that even the political and military leadership is hesitant to allow Marcos’ burial in the heroes’ cemetery because they, too, were victims of martial law.

However, many Marcos loyalists in Ilocos still view their "native son" with awe and said they want Marcos’ remains to be treated with the highest respect.