Manila: The family of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos has finally agreed to bury the remains of the former leader in a park in his home province in northern Luzon, Vice President Jejomar Binay said.
"The family has already agreed that Ilocos Norte (in the north) is the burial place. The issue of a hero's burial (for Marcos) at the Heroes Cemetery (in Manila's suburban Taguig) has become moot and academic," Binay said in a radio interview, during a housing forum in Ilocos region.
Former first lady Imelda Marcos did not give a comment when Binay issued the statement. They both joined the government-initiated housing forum in northern Luzon.
Earlier, President Benigno Aquino asked Binay to make a study on the request of Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos that his father should be buried at the Heroes Cemetery.
In response, Binay said that military honours would be given to Marcos during his burial in Ilocos.
However, supporters of the Marcos family insisted on the hero's burial of the former strongman at the Heroes Cemetery.
Critics at the time condemned to granting of a heroes burial for Marcos even if he ruled for 21 years, from 1965 until his ouster by a people-backed military mutiny in 1986.
Marcos died while in exile in Hawaii in 1989. The government, during the time of former President Fidel Ramos, allowed the Marcos remains to return in 1992.
Since the government did not allow him to be buried in Manila's Taguig at the time, the Marcoses kept his preserved remains at the family-owned mausoleum in Batac City.
