MANILA, Philippines — Former President Fidel Ramos on Monday said the hero’s burial for late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos was a connivance between his heirs, the police and the military.
“Bakit nagawa yung sneak burial without you media knowing about it? There was advanced planning. Call it connivance led by the Marcos family together with some local police and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) official. I say local ecause the commanders did not know and some of them were out of town,” the former president said in a press conference.
Ramos cited that even the helicopter pilots, as well as generals and officials from the Libingan ng mga Bayani, participated in the burial preparation. He said the Philippine National Police (PNP) were also aware as they were able to deploy about 500 police despite the concurrent briefing on the arrival of alleged drug lord, Kerwin Espinosa.
The former president then said that officials involved in Marcos' burial must be investigated or booted out of the office since they have been disloyal to service for failing to inform their immediate commanders.
Marcos was buried at the national heroes’ cemetery in an unannounced ceremony last Friday after the Supreme Court (SC) upheld his right to be buried there as a former president and soldier of the country.
Ramos said he was saddened by the surprise burial but said the ball is now in the court of the SC.
“It is not for me to say to do this or do that,” he added.
“I felt very bad especially for the veterans as well as the members of the AFP, retirees and other active members of PNP which I commanded sometime ago as well as the Philippine Coast Guard,” he said.
Ramos said he agrees with the rallies against the burial and mentioned that the press conference he held on Monday should be considered the “biggest” protest for it was his first time to hold one.
He clarified that his 1992 memorandum of understanding with the Marcoses regarding the late president’s burial did not indicate “pomp, protocol and extravaganza.” He said both parties agreed that the late president shall be buried in a mausoleum in Ilocos Norte.
—Video by Philstar.com/Efigenio Toledo IV
TIMELINE: Hero’s burial for Marcos: How did we get here?