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Martial Law victims condemn Marcos burial: Like a thief in the night


Victims of human rights abuses during the Martial Law regime on Friday condemned news that late former President Ferdinand Marcos would be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in hastily-organized rites.

Boni Ilagan, an activist who fought the Marcos dictatorship, compared the surprise burial to the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.

"Like a thief in the night, Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972. Like a thief in the night, he is being buried today. It is the Marcos style all over again," he said in a statement.

"We condemn this latest assault on justice by the Marcos cabal."

Police officials said the decision to bury Marcos on Friday only came on Thursday night.

Ilagan enjoined everyone to join mass protests scheduled all over the country on Friday in response to last week's Supreme Court decision allowing the burial to happen.

Friday's burial, backed by no less than President Rodrigo Duterte, comes 10 days after the Supreme Court ruled to dismiss the consolidated petitions seeking to stop it, voting 9-5-1.

Meanwhile, those who filed the total of six petitions — including lawmakers, human rights victims during Martial Law, and families of the so-called "desaparecidos" — said they would file an appeal before the Supreme Court. --JST, GMA News

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