DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/11 June) – Senator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., defeated vice presidential bet met with President-elect Rodrigo Duterte late Friday night until 3 a.m. Saturday and thanked him for, among others, allowing the burial of his father, Ferdinand Sr. at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery) in September and for considering his feelings in his decision not to appoint Vice President-elect Leni Robredo to a Cabinet post.
“Nagkwentuhan lang kami” (We were just talking), Marcos told reporters as he was leaving After Dark, Duterte’s watering hole.
DUTERTE-MARCOS. President-elect Rody Duterte meets with outgoing Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. at After Dark in Davao City near midnight Friday until the early hours of Saturday, June 11. Marcos was accompanied by his local supporters who used the tagline AlDuB, short for Alyansang Duterte-Bongbong, during the recently-concluded national elections. Photo by KIWI BULACLAC / City Mayor’s Office
Duterte on March 31 had told a press conference here that he was not considering any post for Robredo because he did not want to hurt Marcos’ feelings.
He said he and the Marcoses are old friends and that his father, who served as Governor of the undivided Davao province, even served as a member of Marcos Sr.’s Cabinet. Duterte’s father served as Secretary of General Services.
Ilocos Norte winner
Commission on Elections records show that Duterte lost in the four-province Ilocos region (Region 1) to Senator Grace Poe but won in Marcos’ home province in Ilocos Norte, with 103,394 votes against Vice President Jejomar Binay’s 66,007, Marcos’ Presidential bet Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago (64,375), Poe’s 61,012 and administration bet Mar Roxas’ 13,162.
In his campaign sortie in Ilocos Norte on February 19, Marcos said he would allow the burial of the Marcos patriarch in the Libingan ng mga Bayani “because he was a great president and he was a hero,” Rappler.com quoted him as saying.
In a press conference in Davao City on May 23, Duterte said he will allow the burial of Marcos “not because he was a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier.”
Despite protests from various sectors, Duterte had repeatedly said burying Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani would lead to the country’s healing.
Duterte will be the 16th President of the Philippines. Of the 12 Presidents who are dead, only two were buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani: Carlos Garcia and Diosdadao Macapagal, Marcos’ predecessor.
The remains of the late President Elpidio Quirino were transferred from the South Cemetery in Makati City to the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig on February 29 this year, on the 60th death anniversary of the sixth Philippine President.
Martial law
Marcos was elected President in 1965, was reelected in 1969 and declared martial law in 1972, a year before he was to step down from his post. Under the 1935 Constitution that was then operating, the President had a maximum of two four-year terms.
Marcos served as a dictator from the time he declared martial law on September 21, 1972 until he was ousted by People Power in February 1986 and fled to Hawaii where he died on September 28, 1989.
His remains were returned to the country only on September 7, 1993 because the administration of then President Corazon Aquino did not allow his burial in the country, citing national security concerns.
Aquino’s successor, Fidel Ramos, a relative of Marcos and the chief of the Philippine Constabulary who joined then Defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile in the People Power revolt that led to the ouster of the Marcoses, allowed the return of Marcos’ remains.
The Marcos body remains prerserved in a mausoleum in his hometown in Batac, Ilocos Norte. Marocs’ widow, Imelda, had repeatedly appealed to have her husband’s remains buried at theLibingan ng mga Bayani, an appeal that was not granted by the Ramos administration and succeeding administrations – Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno S. Aquino III, Corazon Aquino’s son.
AlDuB
Marcos said Duterte was eyeing September as the month his father would be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani although he acknowledged the discussion was still “very informal.”
September is the birth month and month of death of the Marcos patriarch. The patriarch was born on September 11, 1917 and died on September 28, 1989 at the age of 72.
Marcos also thanked Duterte for considering his feelings in his decision not to appoint Robredo to a Cabinet post. “Nagpasalamat nga ako sa kanya” (I thanked him), he said, as he described Duterte as “very kind and thoughtful.”
Marcos lost to Robredo by some 260,000 votes.
He said he and supporters of the AlDuB tandem (Alyansa ng Duterte at Bongbong) met with the President-elect. He said it was his “first chance” to personally congratulate him.
Marcos lost in Davao City and other parts of Region 11 to Duterte’s running mate, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano. In Mindanao’s 27 provinces, Marcos won in seven: in all of Region 12 (North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat), in Sulu, Zamboanga del Sur and Dinagat Islands.
Asked by a reporter if he was “open to a Cabinet position” a year from now, Marcos replied: “Of course. If pagka naman nabigyan tayo ng pagkakakataon, siempre naman, napakalaking karangalan nyan (If given the chance, of course, that’s an honor).
He said he was going to file an election protest on June 28 but his lawyers are still determining on what grounds because there are many grounds to choose from.
It was the first time Duterte and Marcos met again in Davao City after Marcos’ visit here on September 30, 2015, a day after Duterte met with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who would later become Duterte’s running mate.
Vice Presidential bet Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and then Presidential bet Rodrigo Duterte shared the same stage in Alabel, Sarangani on November 27, 2015, as guests in the provinces’ foundation day. Marcos spoke first before Duterte. MindaNews photo by TOTO LOZANO
The two met onstage on November 27, 2015 in Alabel, Sarangani, just hours after Duterte went to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Davao City to withdraw his certificate of candidacy for mayor and his lawyer in Manila filed his COC to substitute PDP-Laban bet Martin Dino, for President.
They were guests at the celebration of Sarangani’s foundation day. (MindaNews)