Marcos burial suspension extended

MANILA: The Philippine Supreme Court today extended an order suspending preparations for the controversial burial of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the country’s Heroes’ Cemetery.
The court first issued the order on Aug 23 and extended it on Sept 7 as it deliberated petitions opposing the planned burial.
Court spokesman Theodore Te said the status quo ante order had been extended until Nov 8, but the high tribunal gave no reason for the extension or indication if it would rule on the petitions by then.
Victims of human rights abuses during Marcos’ rule had asked the Supreme Court to stop the event, arguing that the dictator was not entitled to a hero’s burial because of allegations of corruption, human rights violations and other abuses.
President Rodrigo Duterte gave the go-ahead for the burial to fulfil a campaign promise and in a bid to bring closure to an issue that has divided the country for decades.
Marcos was president of the Philippines from 1966 to 1986, when he was ousted in a revolt and forced to flee into exile to Hawaii, where he died in 1989.
His body was returned to the Philippines in 1993 and has since been kept in a refrigerated crypt in a mausoleum in his hometown of Batac, 470km north of Manila.
Past presidents have refused to have his body buried at the Heroes’ Cemetery due to the allegations against him. — dpa