Aquino: State burial for Marcos an injustice to Martial Law victims

President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday reiterated that he will not allow a state burial for the late President Ferdinand Marcos as the move would allegedly be an injustice to Martial Law victims. “It really would be, I think, the height of injustice to have any honors to the person who was the direct mastermind of all of their sufferings," Aquino told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) in Makati City. He said the victims of Martial Law have not been accorded apology and the bill providing for their compensation is still pending before the Congress. Aquino said Marcos state burial will not happen under his watch. For years, the family of the former dictator and their supporters have been asking the government to allow the burial of Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Those who are 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. Aquino’s father, Senator Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. was a senator who belonged to the opposition during Marcos' term. Ninoy was assassinated at the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983. The airport was later renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in his honor. Marcos was ousted in a bloodless revolt that catapulted Aquino’s late mother Corazon Cojuangco Aquino to the presidency in 1986. Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989. His remains were brought to his northern Philippine hometown in Batac in Ilocos Norte in 1993. Aquino earlier asked Vice President Jejomar Binay to study the issue. Binay recommended the burial of the former strongman with military honors in his hometown in Ilocos. - VVP, GMA News