PHILIPPINES dictator Ferdinand Marcos has been buried at a heroes' cemetery in a secrecy-shrouded ceremony.
Police officials said the service took place despite growing opposition after the Supreme Court ruled that one of Asia's most infamous tyrants can be entombed in the hallowed grounds.
Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde said authorities earlier finalised the burial plans with the Marcos family on Thursday, adding the former president's remains was flown by an air force helicopter from his northern Ilocos Norte hometown for burial in the military-run cemetery in Manila.
Mr Albayalde, who was helping oversee security for the burial, told The Associated Press the dictator's widow, Imelda, who was clad in black, and her children attended the simple ceremony, which he described as "really like just a family affair".
After landing at an air base, Marcos's remains were brought by a black limousine to the cemetery, where his flag-draped wooden coffin was put on a horse-drawn carrier and later carried by military pallbearers to the grave site, military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla said.
A 21-gun salute rang out by military honour troops during the burial ceremony.
"We rendered the simplest of honours befitting the former president in compliance to the desire of the family," Mr Padilla said.
Asked why the burial was kept from the public, he said it was the Marcos family's desire "to keep it private".
The highly-secretive funeral shocked many pro-democracy advocates and human-rights victims who had planned several protests nationwide on Friday to oppose the burial at the cemetery, where former presidents, soldiers and national artists have been interred.
Left-wing activist Bonifacio Ilagan, who was tortured and detained during Marcos' time in power, said Marcos was being buried "like a thief in the night".
"It's very much like when he declared martial law in 1972," Mr Ilagan said.
"This is so Marcos style. I want to rush to the cemetery to protest this. I feel so enraged, I feel so agitated."
He said he and other stunned activists, gathering outside the Supreme Court in Manila for the previously scheduled "Black Friday" protest against the burial, had not decided their next step.
Burying someone accused of massive rights violations and widespread corruption at the heroes' cemetery has long been an emotional and divisive issue in the Philippines, where Marcos was ousted by a largely nonviolent army-backed uprising in 1986.
At the height of the political turbulence, Marcos flew to Hawaii, where he lived with his wife and children until he died in 1989.
The powerful family has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and Imelda Marcos and two of her children eventually ran for public office and won stunning political comebacks.
One son, Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos jnr, ran for vice-president earlier this year and won more than 14 million votes, but lost by a slim margin.
