Amid the raging debate on the planned burial of the remains of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Sunday called on everyone to “respect the dead.”
“We are all Christians. We all must respect the dead,” Estrada said.
“With due respect to the dead, the officials have already decided. We must not quarrel over this,” he added.
Estrada said the country must now “move on” even as he assured protesters that they will be allowed to hold rallies in Manila for as long as they have the appropriate permits.
“We have to move on. Let’s devote more time on the problems of the country. Move on. Let go anything of the past,” he added.
The Supreme Court has earlier consolidated the three petitions seeking to stop the burial of the late strongman as announced by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Ibarra Gutierrez, the lawyer for some of the petitioners, said Marcos should not be buried at the Heroes’ Cemetery because he was “a criminal, a plunderer and a human rights violator.”
Gutierrez also insisted that the 1987 Constitution prohibits Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Duterte said that the late strongman, who served the country for more than three decades, should be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, not because he is a hero but because he was a soldier.
“The issue about Marcos’ burial at the Libingan has created division amongst our people. Almost all Ilocanos have bad feelings about that,” the President 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.