The former Philippine dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, has been given a hero’s burial with military honours, a deeply controversial move three decades after he was ousted in a “People Power” revolution.

The ceremony began with a 21-gun salute as soldiers in parade dress and ceremonial rifles stood to attention at the “Cemetery of Heroes” in Manila, after his body was secretly flown to the venue in an apparent effort to avoid protests.

The supreme court said last week that Marcos, who ruled the nation for two decades until millions of people took to the streets in the 1986 military-backed uprising, could be buried at the heroes’ cemetery.

The decision, endorsing a recommendation from controversial President Rodrigo Duterte, outraged many opponents of the Marcos regime who said it would whitewash the dictator’s many crimes.

The surprise move by the Marcos family and the government to bury him so quickly after the court verdict, with appeals still to be heard, caused further outrage.

Barry Gutierrez, counsel for the anti-Marcos court petitioners, said the burial was illegal because of the outstanding appeals.

“It’s not really surprising that this is happening. Marcos flouted the law when he was still alive, and even at his burial, he is still breaking the law,” Gutierrez told AFP.

Police only announced that Marcos’s body had been flown to the cemetery shortly before the ceremony began, leaving opponents who had been planning rallies flat-footed.

(guardian)