Former first lady Imelda Marcos kisses the glass case that contains the frozen remains of former dictator and president Ferdinand Marcos in this July 2, 2014 photo. /AFP
Philippine activists and a historical body on Monday criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to give late dictator Ferdinand Marcos a hero’s burial, saying the ex-leader lied about his military record.
Duterte said Sunday he would fulfill his campaign promise to bury Marcos at the national “Heroes’ Cemetery,” a contentious issue because of widespread corruption and rights abuses under the late dictator.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines released a study over the weekend questioning Duterte’s stand that Marcos was qualified for a hero’s burial because he was a soldier during World War II.
“Marcos lied about receiving US medals… (his) military record is fraught with myths, factual inconsistencies,” the agency said.
“A doubtful record does not serve as sound, unassailable basis of historical recognition of any sort, let alone burial in a site intended, as its name suggests, for heroes.”
Marcos was toppled in a military-backed popular revolt in 1986 and died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.
But his family has insisted on a hero’s burial even though previous presidents refused this.