Hundreds of people in the Philippines rallied in stormy weather to protest after the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte, approved the burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a heroes’ cemetery.

Police said about 1,500 protesters carrying a large streamer that read “Marcos not a hero” braved the rains, wind and mud at the seaside Rizal park, in Manila, on Sunday to call on Duterte to reconsider his decision. They launched a signature campaign to try to stop the burial, which is set for September.

Loretta Ann Rosales, who formerly headed the government’s commission on human rights, said she was tortured, electrocuted and molested with thousands of other detained leftwing activists under Marcos during a period in Philippine history that clearly showed why the leader, who died in 1989, did not deserve to be accorded state honours.

“Is that not enough evidence? ... Is Marcos a hero?” Rosales asked. The crowd responded: “No!”

Risa Hontiveros, who joined the protest, said she had filed a senate resolution opposing a hero’s burial for Marcos, adding that Duterte should not commit the “atrocious mistake” of bestowing honours upon the former dictator. “Marcos went down in history as an unrepentant enemy of our heroes,” Hontiveros said. “To honour the man [as] a hero and bury his remains in a place reserved for the brave and martyred is an inimical political abomination.”

Using the heroes’ cemetery to bury a dictator accused of massive rights violations and plunder has been an emotional and divisive issue in the country, where Marcos was ousted by a “people power” revolt in 1986.

Marcos fled to Hawaii, where he lived with his wife and children in exile until he died, in Honolulu, three years later. His remains were returned to his north-Philippines hometown and displayed in a glass coffin. His wife, Imelda, and two of three children gradually regained political influence after being elected to public office.

Duterte, who was sworn in as president in June, argues that Marcos is qualified to be buried at the military-run cemetery as a former soldier and president. He revealed he once voted for Marcos and that his late father, a politician, served in Marcos’s cabinet.

Duterte’s communications secretary, Martin Andanar, said on Sunday the president’s position remained firm, arguing that military rules allowed Marcos to be buried at the hallowed cemetery as a former president and soldier.

Selda, an organisation of former political detainees and rights victims under Marcos, said in a statement that it planned to ask the supreme court to stop what it called a grave injustice to thousands of human rights victims.

Communist guerrillas, who are due to restart peace talks with Duterte’s government this month, condemned the president’s move for its “extreme insensitivity”.

In a statement, they said: “Duterte is virtually deleting Marcos’ bloody record as a military despot and the fascist violence, human rights violation, corruption and economic hardships he made the Filipino people suffer through 14 years of dictatorship.”

Associated Press

* “Rally in Philippines contests hero’s burial for Ferdinand Marcos”. The Guardian. Sunday 14 August 2016 12.01 BST Last modified on Sunday 14 August 2016 16.46 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/14/filipinos-protest-ferdinand-marcos-heros-burial

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Rodrigo Duterte will allow Philippines dictator Marcos a hero’s burial

President-elect says he will also pardon former leader Gloria Arroyo but admits controversial announcements could spark nationwide unrest.

Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos will be allowed a hero’s burial, the nation’s controversial incoming president has said, in what would be a huge win for the late strongman’s family as it pursues a return to power.

Rodrigo Duterte also said he would pardon ex-president Gloria Arroyo, who is being detained at a military hospital while on trial for graft and vote fraud.

The announcements by Duterte, who takes office on 30 June, are sure to enrage critics who warned ahead of his landslide election win on 9 May that he was a dictator in the making with no regard for the rule of law.

Speaking in his hometown of Davao, Duterte said he was prepared to risk nationwide unrest on the flashpoint issues surrounding two of the nation’s most controversial figures.

“I will allow protests,” Duterte said when asked about the expected reaction.

Duterte said he would grant the long-standing wish of the Marcos family to have the patriarch buried at a Manila cemetery for some of the nation’s most revered war heroes.

“I will allow the burial of Marcos in the Heroes’ Cemetery, not because he was a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier,” Duterte told reporters.

Marcos and his family fled to US exile in 1986 after millions took to the streets in a famous “People Power” revolution.

Marcos, who was accused of overseeing massive widespread human rights abuses and plundering $10bn from state coffers, died three years later in Hawaii.

His embalmed body is now stored in a crypt at the family home in the northern Philippines.

His son and namesake has led a remarkable political comeback for the family, rising to become a senator in 2010 and running for the vice-presidency in the latest elections.

Marcos Jnr is currently in second place in the tally count and is likely to lose narrowly to Leni Robredo.

However, at 58, he is still young enough to achieve his goal of becoming president.

The Marcos clan has insisted the late ruler deserves to be buried at the cemetery, arguing he was a second world war hero for resisting the Japanese occupiers.

However, American and local historians have disputed his military credentials.

Duterte said allowing Marcos to be buried at the cemetery did not necessarily make him a hero, pointing out other soldiers without gloried reputations were also there.

But current president Benigno Aquino, whose parents led the democracy movement against Marcos, did not allow the burial, arguing it would be the “height of injustice”.

Duterte also said on Monday that he believed Arroyo, who has been detained since 2011, should be free.

“I’m ready to grant a pardon to Arroyo. Arroyo to my mind should already be released,” Duterte said of the president from 2001 to 2010.

Agence France-Presse

* The Guardian. Tuesday 24 May 2016 02.56 BST:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/24/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-dictator-marcos-hero-burial

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