208 ordering the reservation of 142 hectares of land within Fort Bonifacio in consideration for the Libingan to serve not only as a cemetery for military personnel but also as a national shrine for fallen heroes.

He ordered it placed under the administration of the Military Shrines Services of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, an agency under the Department of National Defense.

[12] On November 18, 2016, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos was buried in a private ceremony with military honors, amid much controversy resulting in a handful of protests in various parts of the Philippines.

[13][14][15] On January 4, 2019, a five-year development program for the cemetery, which is projected to cost about ₱3.3 billion, was approved by Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana.

The first phase of the program is to be implemented by the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and includes the construction of a dignified cemetery area, a historical theme park, and a memorial shrine.

[6][9][10] The first structure that visitors will see upon entering the grounds of the cemetery complex is the Heroes Memorial Gate, a large concrete tripod with a stairway leading to an upper view deck with a metal sculpture at the center.

[2] Erected on opposite sides of the main entrance road near the Heroes Memorial Gate are two 12-foot (3.7 m) high black stone walls which bear the words that General Douglas MacArthur uttered during a journey to the Philippines in 1961: "I do not know the dignity of his birth, but I do know the glory of his death.