Erap on FM burial: FVR has Alzheimer’s

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada angrily denied yesterday that as president-elect in 1998, he had tried to have the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

The story was related by former President Fidel Ramos, who said he ordered the digging stopped.

“How can he say that I ordered diggings for the burial of President Marcos before I took over? He has Alzheimer’s disease,” Estrada said in a telephone interview.

Ramos told The STAR editors in an interview Thursday at the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation office in Makati City that he came to know of Estrada’s plans after being told of digging being done near the rotunda at the Libingan around which former presidents are buried. Ramos said then defense secretary Fortunato Abat told him the digging was being done on Estrada’s orders. Estrada allegedly made the attempt a few days before he was to be sworn in as the 13th president of the republic, Ramos said.

“He is already old and he is still lying,” Estrada said, referring to Ramos.

“Even under oath I can tell you that there was no order to Secretary Abat,” Estrada said. “Do you think the defense secretary would follow my instructions while serving under Ramos, who was then commander in chief? He (Ramos) was obviously inventing this story,” the Manila mayor said.

“How could I give orders when I had not even taken my oath as president? And why should I? Besides, you cannot rush something like that,” he added.

“It was after three months (of his oath taking) that Mrs. Marcos visited me and asked me if I can give a hero’s burial for President Marcos. But in fairness to Mrs. Marcos she did not insist,” Estrada said.

He stressed that while he was in favor of granting the wishes of the Marcoses for a hero’s burial for the family patriarch, “I don’t want to commit usurpation of authority.” He said that as a Christian, he respects the dead.

“It was normal for Mrs. Marcos to approach and it was also normal for me to accommodate her. We are just human,” Estrada said.

“What is a piece of land? That is why our country is suffering from karma,” Estrada said.

Estrada said Marcos may have committed mistakes during martial law, but he had also done many good things for the country.

“Who, among us, do not commit mistakes? As Jesus Christ said, ‘anyone who has not sinned may cast the first stone’ (at a woman accused of adultery),” Estrada said.

“Being a Christian, we should practice forgiveness,” Estrada said. “(Marcos) was also a former president and a former guerilla. Every president is entitled to be buried there.”

Estrada said Ramos himself had committed many mistakes during his administration, particularly his issuance of sovereign guarantees that left the nation in dire straits.

“The many sovereign guarantees that he issued were the cause of our economic problems at present. He was also one of the conspirators against me,” Estrada said, referring to the alleged plot by the rich and the powerful that caused his ouster in 2001.

“He is KSP (kulang sa pansin). If he will run for president, I will face him in the election. I don’t give unsolicited advice,” he said.

On allegation that he was a Marcos loyalist, Estrada said it was only when Mrs. Marcos became the governor of the defunct Metro Manila Commission (MMC) – precursor of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) – that he started cooperating with the Marcos administration.

“As mayor of San Juan, I did not ask for any personal favor. The squatters in San Juan were transferred to Taytay through the help of Mrs. Marcos. I got funds from the MMC,” he said. – With Paolo Romero