Protests hound late Filipino dictator’s birthday celebration

Protesters display placards during a rally near the gates of the Heroes Cemetery to protest a mass and ongoing celebration for the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos on his 100th birthday Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 in suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines. The protesters also scored President Rodrigo Duterte for allowing the hero's burial of Marcos at the national cemetery and declaring a non-working holiday at Marcos' home province of Ilocos Norte in northern Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Protesters display placards during a rally near the gates of the Heroes Cemetery to protest a mass and ongoing celebration for the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos on his 100th birthday Monday, Sept. 11, 2017 in suburban Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines. The protesters also scored President Rodrigo Duterte for allowing the hero's burial of Marcos at the national cemetery and declaring a non-working holiday at Marcos' home province of Ilocos Norte in northern Philippines. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

By Associated Press September 11, 2017 1 min read

MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Pro-democracy activists are protesting the declaration of a holiday marking the birthday of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos as an attempt at “political rehabilitation” for his family.

More than 150 people rallied outside a national heroes’ cemetery Monday where the Marcos family celebrating his 100th birthday. He died in 1989.

With riot police standing by, the protesters burned composite portraits showing half of Marcos’ face on one side and President Rodrigo Duterte on the other. Pro-Marcos supporters yelled his name in a separate rally nearby.

Duterte has declared Marcos’ birthday a holiday in the late president’s northern home province. In November, he approved his burial in a secrecy-shrouded ceremony in Heroes’ Cemetery in Manila. The move shocked democracy and rights advocates and sparked widespread protests.