Marcos hero’s burial pushed

HONOLULU—About 100 Filipinos massed on Saturday in a predominantly Filipino area in Waipahu to ask President Benigno Aquino III to allow the burial with full military honors of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City.

Ric Agnes, chairman of the Marcos for Peace Movement, said every “peace-loving” Filipino should work for the reconciliation of the Marcos and Aquino families.

“We believe that President Aquino should rise above partisanship and personal vendetta by allowing the body of the late President Ferdinand Marcos to be buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani with full military honors,” Agnes said in a statement.

He said Mr. Aquino “should head the voice of the majority of Filipinos” and cast aside “any personal retribution.”

The group gathered at Waipahu Intermediate School.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Mr. Aquino decided last month that no state honors should be accorded Marcos. “The question is already moot,” he said.

The Marcos family had revived calls for the dictator’s burial at the heroes cemetery early this year after Gen. Angelo Reyes committed suicide following allegations he received payoffs upon his retirement as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

Marcos, who ruled the country for 20 years, fled to Hawaii after he was ousted in the Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986. He died in exile three years later at the age of 72 after a long battle with heart, lung and kidney ailments.

His remains were returned to the Philippines in 1993 and preserved in a refrigerated crypt at his Batac hometown in Ilocos Norte. Norman Bordadora