The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) denounced the decision of the Supreme Court allowing a hero’s burial for dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

In a statement, the CPP said that GRP President Rodrigo Duterte “would virtually be spitting on the graves of the tens of thousands of martyrs who laid down their lives in the struggle to end the puppet, brutal and rotten Marcos dictatorship.”

According to Amnesty International, 3,249 were killed; 34,000 were tortured and 70,000 were imprisoned during the Marcos dictatorship.

The CPP said Duterte’s payment of political debt to the Marcoses “will undoubtedly be regarded as an act of contempt against the Filipino people’s historic judgement against the Marcos dictatorship.”

Marcos was ousted through a people power uprising in February 1986.

“For sure, the Marcoses would resent such an unfulfilled promise. But such will be incomparable to the deep indignation that will be stirred among the Filipino people,” the CPP said.

The CPP said that over the past three decades, the ruling classes have allowed two generations of Filipinos to forget about the crimes of the Marcos dictatorship.

The CPP further said that every regime since 1986 has helped pave the way for the political rehabilitation of the Marcoses and all their cronies. “If Duterte allows Marcos’ body to be dug-up from Ilocos Norte and re-interred with hero’s burial, he would have provided the Marcoses with the ultimate act of rehabilitation, the CPP said.