Former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos granted hero’s burial

The former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos will be given a hero’s burial 27 years after his death, in the latest contentious act by the country’s new president, Rodrigo Duterte.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday backed the government’s plan to inter the former leader at a cemetery for honoured Filipinos, three decades after he and his notoriously extravagant wife Imelda were toppled by protests known as “People Power”.

The burial proposal sparked fierce debate over Marcos’s legacy and protests by human rights groups and victims of his 20-year regime. Thousands of his opponents were killed, while the former leader and his cronies looted an alleged $10bn — although Mrs Marcos has denied any of her wealth was obtained illegally.

The effort to revive Marcos’s reputation has gained greater resonance because of the support lent by Mr Duterte. The new president has faced criticism from activists and western governments over his bloody war on drugs.

The Supreme Court voted by nine justices to five to throw out petitions to stop the burial of Marcos, whose embalmed body lies in an air-conditioned mausoleum in his home town in northern Philippines. Previous governments had blocked efforts by the Marcos family to have him interred at the cemetery known as Libingan ng mga Bayani, which is reserved for military veterans and distinguished figures from spheres such as politics and the arts.

Opponents of Marcos, who died in exile in Hawaii in 1989, denounced the court’s decision under the hashtag #MarcosNoHero.

Renato Reyes, secretary-general of Bayan, a leftwing activist group, said in a statement: “This is not just a sad day, it is a day of outrage — for the victims of the dictatorship, for the survivors of martial law and for the generations that experienced fascism at its worst.”

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the dictator’s son, attempted to defuse tensions in a post on his website. Mr Marcos said he hoped the “magnanimous” legal ruling would “lead the nation towards healing”. Mr Marcos has already led another phase of his family’s political comeback, coming close to winning the vice-presidency in elections this year.

Ernesto Abella, presidential spokesperson, echoed Mr Marcos’s language and called for the country to “move forward and to continue forging a nation that is peaceable, just and fair to all”.

Mr Duterte has previously said he wanted to bury Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani “not because he was a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier” who fought the Japanese occupation of the country during the second world war. But US government records and Philippine historians have cast doubt on Marcos’s claims that he led a guerrilla resistance unit and received multiple distinguished service medals.

The revisionism around the Marcos years carries echoes of other countries where once-loathed former autocrats have seen their standing rise with the distance of time, because of loyalist propaganda and popular romanticisation of them as tough and effective leaders.

Supporters of Mr Duterte today often play down the death toll and killing of innocent people his drugs campaign has engendered, saying it is more important that he is taking action against suspected drug pushers and addicts.