Estrada imposes conditions for Marcos' burial<\/p>\n
MANILA (Reuters): Philippine President-elect Joseph Estrada
\ntold the widow of Ferdinand Marcos yesterday he would allow the
\nlate dictator's burial at Heroes Cemetery if only family attended
\nand there were no political speeches.<\/p>\n
Estrada, seeking to calm a political storm after he agreed to
\nMarcos being buried alongside former presidents and war veterans,
\nreleased a copy of his letter to former first lady Imelda Marcos
\nlaying down three conditions for his agreement.<\/p>\n
Estrada specified no organized groups would be allowed along
\nthe route to the cemetery, the rites should be strictly religious
\nand \"the funeral shall be limited to the immediate Marcos family
\nof not more than 50 persons.\"<\/p>\n
Estrada, a long time Marcos supporter, told reporters he might
\nattend the planned July 11 funeral in the capital.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups have attacked the planned burial, saying a
\ndictator had no place at the national cemetery.<\/p>\n
Communist guerrillas, infuriated by Estrada's decision, said
\non Sunday they were forming special units to kidnap Imelda
\nMarcos, her children and Marcos's associates and put them on
\ntrial for \"crimes against the people\". Outgoing President Fidel
\nRamos ordered tighter security for the Marcos family.<\/p>\n
Ramos said he had also directed the military and the police to
\nensure the rebels did not disrupt Estrada's inauguration as new
\npresident on June 30.<\/p>\n
\"My motivation is simple,\" Estrada said in his letter. \"I hope
\nthat by finally laying to rest his mortal remains, the decade-
\nlong turmoil over the issue will subside.\"<\/p>\n
Besides targeting the Marcoses, the leftist rebels said they
\nwould also abduct Marcos's top associates, but did not name them.<\/p>\n
Communist New People's Army (NPA) spokesman Gregorio Rosal
\nsaid in a radio interview the rebels planned to set up a special
\ncourt to try the Marcoses.<\/p>\n
\"We all know they committed high crimes... Let us leave it up
\nto the court and to the revolutionary movement,\" Rosal said when
\nasked if the rebels would impose the death sentence on the
\nMarcoses.<\/p>\n
Marcos was overthrown in a 1986 \"people power\" revolt,
\nvilified at home and abroad for plundering the treasury and
\njailing tens of thousands of dissidents, many of them leftists.<\/p>\n
The row over the planned burial claimed its first casualty
\nlast Saturday when a local businessman who opposed the burial was
\nstabbed to death by a friend while they were having drinks,
\nnewspapers said. The friend maintained that Estrada was right.<\/p>\n
Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 and his preserved body
\nhas been kept since 1993 in a glass case in the family mausoleum
\nin his hometown in northern Ilocos Norte province.<\/p>\n
A dozen students staged a noisy protest outside the
\npresidential palace yesterday, carrying signs which read: \"No to
\nHeroes' Burial\" and \"Remember the victims, the sufferings\".<\/p>",
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