--- title: Marcos Can Be Buried at 'Heroes' Cemetery,' Says Duterte description: The Philippine President-elect says the country's late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos can have a hero's burial canonical: https://time.com/4345961/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-ferdinand-marcos-burial/ author: Simon Lewis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-24T05:30:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:47:16.305Z article:section: World og:title: Former Dictator Marcos Can Have a Hero's Burial, Says Duterte og:description: The family of the late Ferdinand Marcos remains powerful in the Philippines og:url: https://time.com/4345961/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-ferdinand-marcos-burial/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5ad34e3a4727f19/6988948c0b72e31ab76e9843/gettyimages-531822688.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: PHILIPPINES-POLITICS-DUTERTE-DAVAO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former Dictator Marcos Can Have a Hero's Burial, Says Duterte twitter:description: The family of the late Ferdinand Marcos remains powerful in the Philippines twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5ad34e3a4727f19/6988948c0b72e31ab76e9843/gettyimages-531822688.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Duterte Says Former Dictator Marcos Can Be Buried at Philippines 'Heroes' Cemetery' by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis May 24, 2016 5:30 AM CUT  The Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte during a meeting at a hotel in Davao City, in the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao, on May 15, 2016 The Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte during a meeting at a hotel in Davao City, in the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao, on May 15, 2016Ted Aljibe—AFP/Getty Images by [Simon Lewis](/author/simon-lewis/) ## Simon Lewis May 24, 2016 5:30 AM CUT The Philippine President-elect [says](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/24/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-dictator-marcos-hero-burial?CMP=twt%5Fgu "undefined") the country’s late former dictator Ferdinand Marcos — who died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 after his countrymen threw him out of power in a popular uprising — can have a hero’s burial. Agence France-Presse reports that [Rodrigo Duterte](http://time.com/4325711/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-president-women-lgbt-china/ "undefined") will allow Marcos to be interred at a Manila cemetery reserved for military personnel and national heroes, which would give a boost to his family’s hopes of further political rehabilitation. “I will allow the burial of Marcos in the Heroes’ Cemetery, not because he was a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier,” [Duterte](http://time.com/4324098/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-president-donald-trump-human-rights-immigration/ "undefined"), the [tough-talking](http://time.com/4324073/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-president-why-elected/ "undefined") mayor of Davao City who [won](http://time.com/4328326/rodrigo-duertes-philippines-five-facts/ "undefined") the May 9 elections and is set to assume power next month, told reporters in his hometown. Although Marcos is accused of widespread human-rights abuses and stealing about $10 billion from the state during two decades in power, his family remains a powerful political force. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., better known by the nickname Bongbong, ran for the vice presidency this year, but preliminary results [show](http://time.com/4327269/ferdinand-marcos-junior-bongbong-vice-president/ "undefined") he was narrowly beaten, although he has questioned the validity of the results. \[[_AFP_](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/24/rodrigo-duterte-philippines-dictator-marcos-hero-burial?CMP=twt%5Fgu "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4345961/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-ferdinand-marcos-burial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4345961/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-ferdinand-marcos-burial/"},"headline":"Duterte Says Former Dictator Marcos Can Be Buried at Philippines 'Heroes' Cemetery'","datePublished":"2016-05-24T05:30:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:47:16.305Z","description":"The family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos remains powerful in the country","url":"https://time.com/4345961/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-ferdinand-marcos-burial/","keywords":["Philippines","Rodrigo Duterte"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5ad34e3a4727f19/6988948c0b72e31ab76e9843/gettyimages-531822688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simon Lewis","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/simon-lewis/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5ad34e3a4727f19/6988948c0b72e31ab76e9843/gettyimages-531822688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"PHILIPPINES-POLITICS-DUTERTE-DAVAO","caption":"PHILIPPINES-POLITICS-DUTERTE-DAVAO","creditText":"Ted Aljibe—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4345961/philippines-rodrigo-duterte-ferdinand-marcos-burial/","name":"Duterte Says Former Dictator Marcos Can Be Buried at Philippines 'Heroes' Cemetery'"}}]}] ```