Hero's burial sought for Ferdinand Marcos<\/p>\n
MANILA (AFP): The widow of Ferdinand Marcos yesterday demanded
\na hero's burial in Manila for the late dictator after the
\ngovernment cut off power to a refrigerated crypt holding his
\nremains because of the family's unpaid electric bills.<\/p>\n
A state-run electric cooperative in Marcos' northern hometown
\nof Batac yesterday pulled the plug on a compound and mausoleum
\nwhere the former president's glass-encased remains have been
\nlying in state since 1993.<\/p>\n
\"Let them (cut off the power) but please, please let me bury
\nmy husband. He is there unburied because this government would
\nnot allow his body to leave Batac,\" Imelda Marcos, now a
\ncongresswoman, told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"This is the ultimate harassment, harassment of the dead, the
\ndead who cannot speak out to defend himself,\" she said.<\/p>\n
\"He is the only corpse in our history with a travel ban,\" she
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Marcos and his family fled to exile in Hawaii in 1986 at the
\nheight of a popular uprising that ended his 20-year regime. He
\ndied in Honolulu in 1989 at the age of 72, but his body was
\nallowed to be returned to his northern home province of Ilocos
\nNorte only in 1993.<\/p>\n
The government of President Fidel Ramos, Marcos' distant
\ncousin who co-led the revolt that overthrew him, has banned the
\ncorpse from being brought to Manila fearing it could be used to
\nfan protests from Marcos loyalists.<\/p>\n
It has also rejected requests by the family to give him the
\nproper funeral honors befitting a former soldier, senator,
\ncongressman and Philippine president, amid opposition by those
\nwho claim that he had plundered the country of billions of
\ndollars during his rule.<\/p>\n
The Marcos family has refused to bury the remains underground,
\nbuilding instead the air-conditioned mausoleum in the garden of
\ntheir sprawling family home in Batac.<\/p>\n
Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative manager Romillas Pascual
\nsaid the Marcos family owed the state-run cooperative 5.6 million
\npesos (US$215,384) in unpaid electric bills since 1986.<\/p>\n
\"The Marcos family ignored the March 3 ultimatum (to settle
\nthe bill). We could not help but disconnect it to prove we are
\nnot bluffing,\" Pascual said.<\/p>\n
Marcos' eldest daughter, Imee, was in Batac on Sunday and
\nreiterated the family's decision to leave the bills unpaid unless
\nthe government returned properties sequestered from the Marcos
\nfamily.<\/p>\n
But Frank Malabed, Marcos' mortician, had earlier said that
\ndespite the lack of power, the remains would be preserved until
\n2002.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/heros-burial-sought-for-ferdinand-marcos-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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