Filipinos call for Marcos remains to be exhumed

By Hader Glang

ZAMBOANGA CITY, the Philippines

Filipino lawmakers and victims of martial law under a former president have called for the exhumation of his remains that were buried at the country's Heroes' Cemetery despite months of legal argument and protest.

An urgent motion submitted to the Supreme Court by Albay Representative Edcel Lagman on Monday described Ferdinand Marcos' burial Friday as "premature, void and irregular", while a petition filed by former Bayan Muna Party representative Saturnino Ocampo said the Marcos family should be held in contempt.

Marcos’ remains were buried in a rushed private ceremony at noon Friday, after his body was flown from Laoag, Ilocos Norte province -- the home of the family mausoleum.

The midday burial has angered victims of Marcos' purges and human rights groups, who have argued that only those who serve as an inspiration and as models for emulation can be buried at the cemetery.

According to rights groups, Marcos’ dictatorship saw thousands of people murdered, tortured and jailed, and the Philippines' finances looted.

According to the urgent motion filed Monday by Lagman and co-petitioners, the burial took place before a Nov. 8 Supreme Court decision striking down earlier petitions was “final and executory”, news broadcaster ABS-CBN reported.

Lagman also argued that the "the hasty and surreptitious” interment "preempted" any motion for reconsideration that could have been filed by petitioners within a 15-day reglementary period following the decision.

Meanwhile, Ocampo was joined by leaders of leftist groups in saying that since the 15-day period had not lapsed, the Marcos family, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Department of National Defense should be held in contempt.

"Marcos, Sr.’s burial at the [Heroes' Cemetery] was made deceitfully and dishonestly without any moral compunction," the 17-page petition was cited as saying.

“The cunning and brazen disregard and mockery by the Marcos family and the public respondents of the legal process is evident in the manner by which the burial was conducted.”

The Supreme Court ruled Nov. 8 that President Rodrigo Duterte had not committed "grave abuse of discretion" in ordering the interment, junking all petitions with a vote of 9-5.

It maintained that no law prohibits Marcos’ burial at the cemetery, and that Duterte had “acted within the bounds of law and jurisprudence”.

On Friday, victims of human rights abuses during the Martial Law regime condemned the news of his burial.

"Like a thief in the night, Marcos declared Martial Law in 1973. Like a thief in the night, he is being buried today. It is the Marcos style all over again," GMA News quoted Boni Ilagan, an activist who fought the Marcos dictatorship, as saying. "We condemn this latest assault on justice by the Marcos cabal."