ILOCOS NORTE - The last will and testament of former President Ferdinand Marcos has been made public on Tuesday amid claims the dictator did not want to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and instead be buried beside his mother in Batac, Ilocos Norte.
The document, released by the family, stated that Marcos desired for his remains to "be buried according to the rites established by law and with dignity suitable to my position and other personal circumstances."
Photo from Marcos' family records.
"Some people say kasi na yung 'LNMB' is 'Libingan ni Marcos sa Batac.' That's why we researched in the archives of the family. That's the very reason why the last will and testament for the executed sometime in 1982, just to support the wishes of President Marcos that he really wanted to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani," Atty. Yvette Convento-Leynes, the Marcos family lawyer, said.
President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for the late strongman's burial at the LNMB, but victims of human rights violations have filed petitions to stop the president's move.
The Supreme Court last week junked these petitions, and Malacañang said the interment is “would be within the year."
Petitioners however vowed to lodge a motion for reconsideration.
Imee, Marcos' eldest daughter, told ANC's Headstart last week that perhaps because she had been rebellious against her father while he was alive, she wanted to make true at least his last wish.
The family, she reiterated, does not desire for their patriarch to receive state honors befitting a president. She also maintained, her father's burial at the LNMB will not make him a hero.
"It’s not a crusade. It doesn’t make him a hero. At the end of the day, we have to judge that by other means. It’s just complying with what your dad wanted," she said.
- with report by Grace Alba and Dianne Dy, ABS-CBN News
Regions, ilocos, Marcos burial, Ferdinand Marcos, Imee Marcos, Libingan ng mga Bayani