DAVAO CITY—Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos may be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani [Cemetery of Heroes], President-apparent Rodrigo Duterte said Monday.
“I will allow the burial of President Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Not because he is a hero, if people don’t like that term, but because he was a Filipino soldier,” Duterte told reporters during an evening news briefing.
“The issue about Maroc’s burial at the Libingan has created division amongst our people. Almost all Ilocanos have bad feelings about that,” he said. “If you don’t want to call him a hero, then just think of him as a soldier.”
Duterte said it is important to settle the matter soon because it has been simmering for a long time. “I’m okay [with burying Marcos at the Libingan] on his birthday,” the president-in-waiting added.
“Will it unite Filipinos? I don’t know, but I know there is one hatred I can erase,” he said.
The decision was a fulfillment of the promise Duterte made in February while he was campaigning in Marcos’ home province of Ilocos Norte, where he won in the race for the presidency with more than 100,000 votes, or 39 percent of all votes cast.
He said allowing a hero’s burial for the former president would help unite the country.
“I want to unite this country [but I cannot do that] if all the Ilocanos nurtured this [hard feeling about the Marcos burial]. Someone has to give. Let us just bury him so we’re done with that,” Duterte said during the campaign.
Duterte was warmly welcomed by his Ilocano supporters who called themselves “Aldub,” or Alyansang Duterte-Bongbong.
While he was campaigning in Ilocos Norte, Duterte admitted that he had a high respect for the deceased former president, whom he called a “great president” and a “hero,” since Marcos helped Duterte’s father become the first governor of the undivided Davao province.