Muntinlupa Rep. Rodolfo Biazon, chair of the House of Representatives committee on national defense, said on Monday that the late President Ferdinand Marcos should be buried with military honors in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
But Biazon, also a former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief, clarified to reporters in Camp Aguinaldo that Marcos should be buried there for having been a Filipino soldier and not for having been a President of the country.
“The question is: Is he going to be buried there as a soldier or is he going to be buried there as a former President? As a former President, maybe not," Biazon said.
Biazon said Marcos deserves to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City because “as soldier, he [had] served his country." Marcos remains are being preserved in his hometown in Ilocos Norte.
The congressman pointed out that one of the requirements for someone to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani is that “he should have been a soldier who served honorably."
For his World War II feats in Bataan on Jan. 22, 1942, Marcos was awarded several medals, including the Medal of Valor, the highest military decoration for bravery and gallantry in combat. But most of his medals have been questioned as spurious by historians.
In February, President Benigno Aquino III has tasked Vice President Jejomar Binay to study proposals to have Marcos buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani after former AFP chief Gen. Angelo Reyes — who had committed suicide amid corruption allegations — was buried there. Aquino is now studying Binay’s recommendations.
Marcos’ son, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong" Marcos Jr., has suggested that his father be given the proper recognition by burying him at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Several lawmakers have supported the call of Sen. Marcos, including Senate President Juan Ponce and Sen. Gregorio Honasan, who both had played key roles in the ouster of the late dictator in 1986. Enrile was then the Defense secretary while Honasan was a lieutenant colonel affiliated with a group of military reformists. — MRT/VS
