Bid to exhume Marcos 3 days after his burial

Bid to exhume Marcos 3 days after his burial

November 22, 2016
Former legislator and ex-communist rebel leader Satur Ocampo speaks to members of the media after filing a petition for the exhumation of Marcos body at the Supreme court in Manila on Monday. — AFP
Former legislator and ex-communist rebel leader Satur Ocampo speaks to members of the media after filing a petition for the exhumation of Marcos body at the Supreme court in Manila on Monday. — AFP



MANILA — Human rights victims who suffered during the rule of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos filed petitions on Monday asking the Supreme Court to order the exhumation of his remains that were buried last week at the country’s Heroes’ Cemetery.

They also want the court to hold officials and his heirs in contempt for carrying out the burial before the court heard final appeals against it.

Former President Fidel Ramos, who played a key role in the peaceful army-backed revolt that ousted Marcos in 1986, called the former leader’s burial at the military-run cemetery “an insult” to the sacrifices of soldiers and veterans.

Left-wing former lawmaker Saturnino Ocampo and other activists urged the court to hold Marcos’ widow Imelda, their three children, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and two military officials in contempt for “the hasty, shady and tricky” burial on Friday of the long-dead president at the Heroes’ Cemetery.

The petition said they should be fined and detained for mocking the legal process that gave petitioners 15 days to appeal the court’s Nov. 8 ruling allowing the burial.

Opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman, who represents another group of petitioners, sought a court order to have the remains exhumed “because the hasty and surreptitious interment was premature, void and irregular.”

He asked that the remains be examined to determine if they are not a wax replica. — AP


November 22, 2016
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