Vice President Jejomar Binay has given President Benigno Aquino III his recommendation on whether the remains of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos should be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery), the Office of the Vice President said Wednesday.
"Meron nang naforward (It has already been forwarded) to the President. Last week po... around Friday," Red Pasetes of the OVP told GMA News Online in a text message.
Pasetes, however, refused to elaborate any further. Binay's spokesman Joey Salgado likewise said he does not know anything about the contents of the recommendation.
"Best we wait na lang for the announcement of the President," said Pasetes.
But in a statement issued also on Wednesday, Binay said his recommendation was "very balanced." "All sides were considered. Every opinion from every person who responded to the survey was given consideration."
Earlier, Binay said the public may send their reactions and comments via e-mail or text message.
A survey by pollster SWS for the first quarter of 2011 had earlier found a "virtually exact split opinion" between supporters and opponents of the idea to let Marcos be buried at the Heroes' Cemetery.
Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III, who served as agriculture minister during the Marcos regime, had earlier proposed House Resolution 1135 urging Aquino to allow the burial of the late strongman at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
The Marcos family
In a separate interview on Wednesday, Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said Binay called him last Saturday to inform his family that the recommendation on the burial issue is ready that he would give it to Aquino this week.
Bongbong, however, said Binay did not inform him about the contents of the recommendation, saying that the President should be the first one to know.
"I have no idea what's in the (report)...we are not privy to that ang sinabi lang sa akin is handa na (He only told me that is ready)," he told reporters.
But Marcos said that regardless of the recommendation, he won't change his stand on the proposed postponement of the August Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) polls.
"I'm afraid the one thing is not connected to the other, it doesn't work that way, we have to be objective about these things," he said.
The postponement of the ARMM elections is among the priority bills of Aquino, who wants it to be synchronized with the May 2013 national elections.
Heroes' Cemetery
Those allowed to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani are military personnel who died in line of duty or were honorably discharged, Filipino veterans, former presidents, government dignitaries, statesmen and national artists.
The remains of widows of former Philippine presidents, the secretaries of national defense and chiefs of staff are also authorized to be interred in the same plot where their husbands are buried. — RSJ
