A group of Filipinos supporting the late former President Ferdinand Marcos appealed to the government Sunday to grant their idol a state burial, but President Benigno Aquino III's spokesman said Aquino is not likely to change his mind.
Government-run dzRB radio reported Sunday a group of Marcos supporters made the appeal in Honolulu, where Aquino is staying for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering.
"I think a decision has been made," Lacierda said at a press briefing Sunday afternoon (Manila time).
He was referring to Aquino's earlier pronouncement that there will be no state burial for Marcos.
The dzRB report quoted Lacierda as saying it is not likely Aquino will change his decision.
Marcos, who died in September 1989, had placed the country under Martial Law, during which his critics said many human rights abuses took place.
But his hold on power began to crumble after the assassination in 1983 of President Aquino's father, former Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.
The former strongman was ousted in a bloodless revolution in 1986 that installed the incumbent president's mother, Corazon, to the presidency.
He spent three years in exile in Hawaii until his death in September 1989. — LBG,
