'Phony hero' Marcos doesn't deserve Libingan Ng Mga Bayani burial

A group of Martial Law victims has asked incoming president Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider his position to allow the burial of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani.

"We ask President-elect Duterte to reconsider. FM (Ferdinand Marcos) cannot be considered a hero," said Campaign against the Return of the Marcoses to Malacañang (CARMMA) convenor Bonifacio Ilagan in a text message to GMA News Online. 

Burying Marcos at the Libingan will also "whitewash all crimes he committed against the people and will send the wrong message to the world that in the Philippines, crime pays," said Ilagan, a torture victim during Martial Law. 

He added that the former leader was a "phony wartime hero" as most of the 32 medals he accumulated during World War II were found to be fraudulent by the United States Army in early 1986.

"FM was a soldier who faked his medals and thus dishonored the honorable," Ilagan said. 

The former president died while on exile in Hawaii in 1989, three years after he was ousted from Malacañang by a people power revolt. 

He was accused of committing massive human rights abuses and siphoning off some $10 billion from state coffers during two-decade rule from 1965 to 1986. 

Duterte, in a press conference on Tuesday, said that Marcos should be buried at the cemetery because he had served as a soldier.

"I will allow Marcos burial in Libingan Ng Mga Bayani, not because he was a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier," said Duterte.

He said that denying Marcos a place at the Libingan Ng Mga Bayani has created division in the country.

“Iyang issue ni Marcos diyan sa Libingan Ng Mga Bayani has long created a division amongst our people. Almost all of the Ilokanos, naghihinakit talaga. Lahat. Halos lahat, mga Ilokano, galit kung bakit ganoon ang ginawa sa kanya,” he said. —JST, GMA News