Ferdinand Marcos

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician and kleptocrat     who was the tenth President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled as a dictator   under martial law from 1972 until 1981. His regime was infamous for its corruption,  extravagance,   and brutality.

Marcos claimed an active part in World War II, including fighting alongside the Americans in the Bataan Death March and being the "most decorated war hero in the Philippines". A number of his claims were found to be false   and the United States Army documents described Marcos's wartime claims as "fraudulent" and "absurd".

Marcos started as an attorney, then served in the Philippine House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the Philippine Senate from 1959 to 1965. He was elected President in 1965, and presided over a growing economy during the beginning and intermediate portion of his 20-year rule, but ended in loss of livelihood, extreme poverty, and a crushing debt crisis. Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law on September 23, 1972,  during which he revamped the constitution, silenced the media, and used violence and oppression against the political opposition, Muslims, communist rebels, and ordinary citizens. Martial law was ratified by 90.77% of the voters during the Philippine Martial Law referendum, 1973 though the referendum was marred with controversy.

Public outrage led to the snap elections of 1986. Allegations of mass cheating, political turmoil, and human rights abuses led to the People Power Revolution in February 1986, which removed him from power. To avoid what could have been a military confrontation in Manila between pro- and anti-Marcos troops, Marcos was advised by President Ronald Reagan through Senator Paul Laxalt to "cut and cut cleanly", after which Marcos fled to Hawaii. Marcos was succeeded by Corazon "Cory" Aquino, widow of the assassinated opposition leader Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. who had flown back to the Philippines to face Marcos.

According to source documents provided by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG),  the Marcos family stole US$5–10 billion. The PCGG also maintained that the Marcos family enjoyed a decadent lifestyle, taking away billions of dollars from the Philippines  between 1965 and 1986. His wife Imelda Marcos, whose excesses during the couple's conjugal dictatorship  made her infamous in her own right, spawned the term "Imeldific". Two of their children, Imee Marcos and Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., are still active in Philippine politics.

Death and burial
In his dying days, Marcos was visited by Vice President Salvador Laurel. During the meeting with Laurel, Marcos offered to return 90% of his ill-gotten wealth to the Filipino people in exchange for being buried back in the Philippines beside his mother, an offer also disclosed to Enrique Zobel. However, Marcos's offer was rebuffed by the Aquino government.

Marcos died in Honolulu on the morning of September 28, 1989, of kidney, heart, and lung ailments. Marcos was interred in a private mausoleum at Byodo-In Temple on the island of Oahu where his remains were visited daily by the Marcos family, political allies and friends.

The Aquino government refused to allow Marcos's body to be brought back to the Philippines. The body was only brought back to the Philippines four years after Marcos's death during the term of President Fidel Ramos.

From 1993 to 2016, his remains were interred inside a refrigerated crypt in Ilocos Norte, where his son, Ferdinand Jr., and eldest daughter, Imee, have since become the local governor and congressional representative, respectively. A large bust of Ferdinand Marcos (inspired by Mount Rushmore) was commissioned by the tourism minister, Jose Aspiras, and carved into a hillside in Benguet. It was subsequently destroyed; suspects included left-wing activists, members of a local tribe who had been displaced by construction of the monument, and looters hunting for the legendary Yamashita treasure.

Opinion on his burial remains split: 50 percent of the 1,800 respondents of a survey conducted by SWS in February 2016 said Marcos "was worthy to be buried at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani" while the other half rejected a hero's burial, calling him a "thief".

On November 18, 2016, the remains of Marcos were buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani despite opposition from various groups. The burial came as unexpected to many, as the Supreme Court's ruling still allowed 15 days for the opposition to file a motion for reconsideration. On the morning of November 18, using Philippine Armed Forces choppers, his family and their supporters flew his remains from Ilocos to Manila for a private burial.

Various protest groups formed immediately upon hearing the news of the unexpected burial. Among those who gathered to oppose the burial were youth groups and opponents of the burial of Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The League of Filipino Students described the transfer of Marcos' remains as being done like "a thief in the night." They also criticized the government's involvement in the burial of the former president who they described as a "fascist dictator". The Kabataan Partylist also condemned the burial, labeling it as a "grave travesty" and as "galawang Hokage" in reference to the burial of Marcos being planned and conducted unbeknownst to the public.