MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos rallied in stormy weather Sunday against President Rodrigo Duterte's approval of dictator Ferdinand Marcos' burial in a heroes' cemetery.
Police said about 1,500 protesters carrying a large streamer that read "Marcos not a hero" braved the rains, wind and mud at Manila's seaside Rizal Park to call on Duterte to reconsider his decision. They launched a signature campaign to try to stop the burial, tentatively set for next month.
Loretta Ann Rosales, who formerly headed the government's Commission on Human Rights, said she was tortured, electrocuted and molested with thousands of other detained left-wing activists under Marcos during a dark era in Philippine history that clearly shows why the brutal leader did not deserve to be accorded any state honors.
"Is that not enough evidence? ... Is Marcos a hero?" Rosales asked, with the crowd yelling back: "No!"
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who joined the protest, said she has filed a Senate resolution opposing a hero's burial for Marcos, adding that Duterte should not commit "this atrocious mistake" of bestowing honors to the former dictator.
"Marcos went down in history as an unrepentant enemy of our heroes," Hontiveros said. "To honor the man a hero and bury his remains in a place reserved for the brave and martyred is an inimitable political abomination."
Burying a dictator accused of massive rights violations and plunder at the heroes' cemetery has long been an emotional and divisive issue in the country, where Marcos was ousted by a "people power" revolt in 1986. He was flown to Hawaii, where he lived with his wife and children in exile until and died in 1989.
His remains were later returned to his northern Philippine hometown and displayed in a glass coffin. His wife, Imelda, and two of three children gradually regained political influence after being elected to public office.
Duterte, who was sworn in as president in June, argues that Marcos is qualified to be buried at the military-run cemetery as a former soldier and president. He has disclosed that he once voted for Marcos and that his late father, a politician, served in Marcos's Cabinet.
Duterte's communications secretary Martin Andanar said Sunday that the president's position "remains firm," arguing that military rules allow Marcos to be buried at the hollowed cemetery as a former president and soldier.