Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in home province

MANILA, Philippines, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The family of ex-Philippines ruler Ferdinand Marcos reached a deal with the government to bury Marcos in his home province with military honors, officials said.

The family had wanted Marcos, who died in exile in 1989, to have a hero's burial and be interred in Heroes Cemetery in a Manila suburb, Gulf News reported Wednesday.

"The family has already agreed that Ilocos Norte is the burial place. The issue of a hero's burial at the Heroes Cemetery has become moot and academic," Vice President Jejomar Binay said.

Former first lady Imelda Marcos did not comment on Binay's statement.

President Benigno Aquino had asked Binay to study the request of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos that his father be buried in Heroes Cemetery.

When the request was first made, critics condemned granting a hero's burial for Marcos, who ruled for 21 years from 1965 until his ouster by a people-backed military mutiny in 1986, Gulf News said. The former dictator died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 and the government allowed his remains to be returned to the Philippines in 1992. The Marcos relatives kept his remains in the family mausoleum in Batac City.