(Updated) Burying former president Ferdinand Marcos at the “Libingan ng mga Bayani” will bring closure to their family and the nation, his son and namesake said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said laying his father at the heroes’ cemetery would bring closure rather than division among Filipinos.

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“I think it will bring closure not only to my family but to the rest of the country. This is something that has been somehow in the consciousness of the Filipino people. This continuing partisan exchange that has been going over 30 years can finally be put to rest. I think that is the significance,” Marcos said in a news briefing in Quezon City.

Marcos said he met on Friday night with President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to thank the incoming President for his plan to bury his father at the heroes’ cemetery.

READ: Bongbong thanks Duterte for favoring father’s burial at Libingan

“Ako’y pumunta roon kasi ito ang unang paggkakataon ko na personal na magpasalamat sa kanya sa kanyang mga statement, unang-una tungkol sa libing ng aking ama,” the outgoing senator said.

(I went there because it gave me the opportunity to personally thank him for his statements primarily regarding the burial of my father.)

Duterte earlier said that he would allow the burial of the late president at the Libingan ng mga Bayani to unite the nation, citing that the issue has been a “divisive factor in our society.”

READ: Duterte on Marcos’ burial at heroes’ cemetery: It will erase one hatred in PH

During their meeting, Marcos said there were no specific details discussed regarding his father’s burial, including the date.

Reports said the late dictator could be buried at the heroes’ cemetery by Sepetmber 11, his birth anniversary, but the younger Marcos said no definite details have been discussed yet.

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“Wala pang specifics na ganun (There are no details as specific as that),” he said referring to the date of his father’s burial.

“There’s really nothing more definite, kahit September baka ‘di pa ano ‘yun (even the month of September is not final yet),” he added.

Duterte earlier said that the burial of the late president Marcos could be “arranged immediately.”

“I will allow the burial of President Marcos sa Libingan ng mga Bayani not because he is a hero but because he was a Filipino soldier, period,” Duterte has said. RAM/IDL

Marcos was a soldier too–Duterte

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