Palace to Marcoses: Apology first before state burial

The Marcos family should apologize first to human rights victims during the martial law years before the government will consider conferring a state burial to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesperson said on Thursday. “Apology, compensation... the Marcoses should come up with an acknowledgement of the wrongs that were done under the martial law years and that has not been done," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a press briefing. “There is no apology, there has been no compensation, so how can you confer honors to someone who has not recognized, who has not apologized for the human rights violations that happened under his watch?" he added. Lacierda said President Aquino took this into consideration when he thumbed down the idea of a state burial for Marcos under his watch. For years, the Marcos family has been asking the government to allow the late strongman to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani are military personnel who died in the line of duty or were honorably discharged, Filipino veterans, former presidents, government dignitaries, statesmen, and national artists. No vendetta Lacierda said there was no vendetta on the part of President Aquino, whose mother, the late President Corazon Aquino, replaced Marcos through the historic 1986 EDSA People Power Revolt. President Aquino’s father, slain Senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was a known Marcos archrival.The Marcos regime is widely believed to have been behind the killing. Marcos’ son, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong" Marcos Jr., has criticized President Aquino for supposedly not keeping his word to properly consider the proposal to allow his father to be given state honors and be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Lacierda took offense from Marcos Jr.’s statement, saying he does not know where the senator got the impression that there has been an agreement regarding a state burial for the former dictator. “You would have to ask Sen. Marcos the basis of the information that there was already an understanding that honors will be accorded to their father. We have never released any information with respect to agreeing to state honors for the former president," he said. “Nothing came from the Palace, nothing came from President Aquino himself, so this impression that Sen. Marcos got is something that perhaps he should explain. We didn’t elicit or we didn’t give out any hint of the President’s decision primarily because he was still weighing on the issue," he added. Reconciliation? He said Marcos’ daughter, Ilocos Sur Governor Imee Marcos, being the leader of the province, could give honors to their father even without the consent of the national government. Asked if there will be reconciliation between the Aquino and the Marcoses, Lacierda said reconciliation comes in various forms. “If you’re speaking of legislative matters, there would be some matters which they—both the President and Senator Marcos—can agree on," he said. Vice President Jejomar Binay, whom President Aquino designated to handle the Marcos burial issue, recommended burial with military honors for Marcos in the late strongman’s hometown in Ilocos. Marcos died in Hawaii in 1989. His remains were brought to his northern Philippine hometown of Batac in Ilocos Norte in 1993 where they lie in an air-conditioned building. — KBK/HS, GMA News