Why the Late Philippine Dictator Was

No Hero
Honoring Ferdinand Marcos a Gross Insult to His Victims

Phelim Kine
Deputy Director, Asia Division

PhelimKine
PhelimKine

The Philippine Supreme Court has ruled that President Rodrigo Duterte can
provide a “hero’s burial” for Ferdinand Marcos, whose dictatorial presidency
from 1965 to 1986 involved rampant killings, torture, enforced disappearances,
and arbitrary arrests.

Duterte has justified that honor on the basis that it would promote “healing”
among Filipinos and “erase from our people one hatred.” Marcos’s son, Senator
Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., has likewise supported the internment in the
Heroes Cemetery in Manila as a means to bring “closure” to “partisan
exchange” about his father’s legacy.