Exhume Ferdinand Marcos, Philippine Court Asked After Hero Burial

Manila, Philippines: Campaigners launched legal action on Monday to exhume the body of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, just three days after his burial in a national heroes' cemetery triggered street protests.

He was finally laid to rest on Friday in a secretive ceremony at the "Cemetery of Heroes" with military honours almost three decades after his death, angering critics who accuse Marcos of massive corruption and human rights abuses.

Relatives of victims of his rule asked the Supreme Court Monday to dig up his remains, claiming they had not been given enough time to appeal a ruling allowing his burial in the cemetery.   

"How can a plunderer and despot and violator of human rights be given that honour of being buried in the memorial of good men?" said Congressman Edcel Lagman, brother of an abducted anti-Marcos dissident who was never seen again.

Two weeks ago the Supreme Court endorsed a decision by President Rodrigo Duterte to bury the dictator at the heroes' cemetery.

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The Marcos family and government moved quickly after the verdict, secretly flying the embalmed body from their home town in the northern Philippines to the cemetery in Manila on Friday and interring him.

But Lagman, an opposition member of the House of Representatives, filed a "motion for exhumation" Monday arguing the court ruling was not final because opponents had not been given 15 days to appeal.

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"If you exhume that body, you disinter Marcos, then the motions for reconsideration" can be heard by the court, Lagman told ABS-CBN television.

Another group representing victims of his martial law Monday asked the Supreme Court to cite the Marcos family and the military for contempt for organising the burial.

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Opponents also announced a major street protest for Friday.
Millions of Filipinos took to the streets in 1986 in a famous "People Power" revolution to oust the then dictator.

Marcos died in exile in Hawaii three years later, and his body was put on public display in his northern home town until earlier this year because previous presidents had refused to allow the dictator to be buried at the heroes' cemetery.

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The former leader, his wife Imelda, 87, and their cronies plundered up to $10 billion from state coffers and plunged the Philippines into crippling debt during his rule, according to government investigators and historians.

The dictator also suppressed dissent, with thousands killed and tortured, previous Philippine governments said.

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But his heirs staged a political rehabilitation that saw his wife and their children winning public office.

Their comeback culminated in the election this year of Duterte, a long-time ally of the family.

Duterte has defended the burial, saying laws entitled Marcos to be buried at the heroes' cemetery as a former president and soldier.

Over the weekend, an emotional widow Imelda said her dead husband was "at peace" there.

"I know Marcos stood for the truth and if you are on the side of truth, God is on your side," she told supporters at a memorial mass at her late husband's grave.