Imee Marcos

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Maria Imelda Josefa Romualdez Marcos
Representative, 2nd District of Ilocos Norte
1998–2007
Assemblywoman, District of Ilocos Norte
1984–1986
Secretary/Minister of the Kabataang Barangay
1975–1984
Philippine Presidential Daughter
1965–1986
Political Party: KBL (1998 to date)
Born: November 12, 1955 (1955-11-12) (age 52)
Flag of the Philippines Mandaluyong City, Philippines
Spouse: Tommy Manotoc (separated)

Maria Imelda Josefa Romualdez Marcos (born November 12, 1955), most widely known as Imee Marcos, is a Filipino politician. She served three terms as representative of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte in the Philippine House of Representatives, from 1998 to 2007. She belongs to the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan or KBL political party, the same party supporting her father, the former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos.[1] She is the sister of Ilocos Norte Congressman Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. (2007-present), who replaced her as the Representative for the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte.

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Mrs. Imelda R. Marcos and her daughter, Imee.
Mrs. Imelda R. Marcos and her daughter, Imee.

Hon. Marcos is the eldest daughter of Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, former president of the Philippines (1965 - 1986), and former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, both parents ruling the Philippines together for twenty years. She was born on November 12, 1955 in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila. [1] Her other siblings are Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., currently the Governor of the province of Ilocos Norte, Irene Marcos-Araneta [2] (a socialite), and an adopted daughter Aimee Marcos (entrepreneur and musician), [3] Marcos is a Eurasian of Filipino, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese descent.[verification needed]

Marcos, who turned 10 the day after her father was elected president in 1965, grew up as a young child at Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the president of Republic of the Philippines. In an interview with Filipinas Magazine in 1999, she admitted that she was not comfortable living at the Palace because it was too confining, very formal and fixed. She also added that it is not necessarily the most appropriate place to bring up a kid but it was quite nice. [4]

While living at the Place, Marcos attended regular schools in Manila, then was tutored at the Palace because they found it difficult to go out because of protest rallies outside Malacañang. [5] This she found the most boring thing that happened, to learn without classmates. [5]

[edit] Education

Marcos went to the Institucion Teresiana (Poveda Learning Center) for Kindergarten to Grade IV where she earned First Honors. She attended Assumption Convent at Herran St.in Manila for Grade V to First Year High School where she also earned First Honors. Then, she went to the American School in Makati. [1]

Imee, her brother Ferdinand Jr. (Bongbong) and sister, Irene had been studying in England before Marcos signed Proclamation No. 1081 on September 21, 1972. They stayed there for a few years until they finished their studies. But they came home for Christmas and summer holidays. [5] Imee was just about to turn 17 years old at that time. Bongbong was sent ahead of Imee and Irene to England to continue their studies.

In England, they had to live by themselves. "We were much concerned about adopting to a new and very cold environment. I was clueless. I wasn't aware of what was going on because we were struggling to cope in England without our parents, so it wasn't very real to us that things actually changed in the Philippines in an important way," she candidly recalls.[5]

In London, she attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts Acting and Playwriting, (with Distinction). She took up Acting at the Royal Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in London, UK (with Distinction). She also went to the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus, Mayfield, Sussex,England British Kingdom (GCSE Examinations –(7) UK Firsts,(3) Seconds). [1] Marcos completed her secondary education at Santa Catalina School in Monterey, California where she graduated valedictorian of her class.

She took up her B.A. in Religion and Politics and graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey, USA.

Imee became the most visible among the three Marcos children when she returned to the Philippines. She was chairperson of the Kabataang Barangay or youth organization. Back in Manila, Marcos earned her Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City. Then, she earned her M.A. in Management and Business Administration from the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City. [6]. She did graduate studies in anthropology, sociology, literature, arts, history and theater at Princeton University in New Jersey and the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Marcos also studied French and Dialectical Arabic at the Royal University of Rabat in Morocco and Writing: screenplay; children's literature; painting and art; and interior design at the National University of Singapore College of Extramural Studies. [1]

Hon. Marcos was counsel at the Center for Legal Aid at the U.P. College of Law. She was also a consultant for corporate taxation of the Independent Realty Corp., Anchor Corp., Prime Holdings, MidPasig Realty Corp. She was columnist of the The Manila Bulletin in Manila, publisher of the Filpino Film Review, publisher and editor of the Kabataang Barangay Foundation, Makati, Metro Manila, and Special consultant to the chairman of the board of ABS-CBN, RPN 9 and IBC 13. From 1979-1986, she was consultant to the minister of the National Media Production Center in Quezon City. Then, from 1981 to 1986, she was director general of the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines.[6]

Prior to politics, Imee was producer for eleven years (1975-1986) of two famous Filipino children shows namely: "Kulit Bulilit" and "Kaluskos Musmos"- where today's Batibot originated. For five years (1981-1986), Imee was director-general of experimental cinema of the Philippines and produced: Oro, Plata, Mata; Himala; Misteryo sa Tuwa and Soltero. She co-produced with Marilou Diaz-Abaya the movie Brutal; with Peque Gallaga, Scorpio Nights; and with Tikoy Aguiluz, "The Boatman." [7]

Imee also produced and wrote animation featuring Nonoy Marcelo's "Da Real Makoy and Lam-Ang", among others. [7]

Imee also held the following positions:

  • President/Executive Producer of Renegade Filmamakers - (1996 to present)
  • Founding Chair of the Kabataang Barangay Foundation - (1975-1986)
  • Producer of Metro Magazine - (1975-1986)
  • Consultant/Writer of the Children's Television Workshop for Asia and New York - (1977-1979)

Marcos has dabbled in drama, appearing in the Cultural Center of the Philippines' production of The Diary of Anne Frank.[citation needed]

[edit] The exile years

In 1986, after the four-day "People Power" revolt at EDSA, (also known as the 1986 EDSA Revolution), the Marcos family had to hurriedly leave the Malacañang Palace. The ousted President and the First Lady were sent to Honolulu, Hawaii while Bongbong and Irene with her husband Greggy Araneta, stayed in another state. Imee, then married to sportsman Tommy Manotoc, with their children, (her eldest son, Borgy, only 2 ½ years old at that time), travelled to Europe and Africa, finally settling down in Morocco. There, she and her family first lived at the guest house of then King Hassan II's palace, then moved to a bungalow in the diplomatic quarter of Rabat. [8] The U.S. was not an option for Marcos because of a human rights suit filed by a Filipino there.

While in exile, she studied at the Royal University of Rabat in Morocco where she enrolled in French and Dialectical Arabic Language studies. As such, Marcos can speak Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Mandarin, basic Japanese and Arabic, apart from English, Filipino, Waray and basic Ilocano.

On December 1991, six years after exile, Imee and Irene were given travel documents in Malaysia and had the chance to return to the Philippines for the formal burial of their father. Marcos was already in a refrigerated crypt then. The brownouts at that time, coupled with fear that her three boys would unduly suffer in school defending their name, caused Imee to pack up again and settle in Singapore. While there, she enrolled again at the National University of Singapore College of Extramural Studies where she took up courses in writing (screenplay and children's literature), painting and art, and interior design.

Marcos and children stayed in Singapore from January 1992 until she decided to come back in March 1998, a few weeks before she was elected to Congress.

[edit] Political career

[edit] Cabinet Representative of Kabataang Barangay

Marcos' first stint in politics was as Cabinet representative of the youth sector from 1979 to 1986, [6] being the national chairman of the Kabataang Barangay or youth organization. [9].

[edit] Assemblywoman

Then, she became assemblywoman, being member of the Batasang Pambansa or National Assembly from 1984 to 1986.[6] [7]

[edit] Congresswoman (1998-2007)

She was first elected to Congress as representative of the 2nd District of Ilocos Norte in 1998, and was re-elected in both the 2001 and 2004 national elections. [6]

Marcos, describing herself as a reluctant candidate for congress in 1998, now describes herself as a reluctant politician. But strongly feels duty-bound to do something for her father's bailiwick in Ilocos Norte.

[edit] Personal life

Former Congresswoman Marcos was once married to golfer Tommy Manotoc, with whom she lived in Morocco. They have three sons: Fernando Martin ("Borgy"), a commercial model and a DJ; Michael, a student at New York University; and Joseph, a student at Claremont Mckenna College.[7] Marcos and Manotoc are now separated.

[edit] Most vocal defender of martial law

Imee Marcos is the most vocal defender of martial law and her father, the late Ferdinand Marcos. In her most recent pronouncements, she said: "The best roads and bridges were built during martial law. Even the movies then were very good."

In his book "Martial Law Diary: Part 1", Ex-Navy Captain Danilo Vizmanos, wrote a scathing remark on the controversial martial law era under Marcos. Citing the heroism of Liliosa Hilao, who was raped, tortured and murdered by the military under Marcos, he wrote: "For the single crime that Marcos and his gangsters have committed on the brave but defenseless Liliosa, a million kilometers of paved roads and all the gimmicks they have come up with cannot erase from the (memory of) Filipino people such an abominable crime that will forever serve as the dark legacy of the New Society." [10]

Just recently, Imee Marcos took offense at the Arroyo government's subtle reference to the country spending one-third of its annual budget to service debts largely incurred during Ms. Marcos' late dictator-father regime. She took the moral high ground saying no way could the accumulated debt be the fault of her dead father.[11] Commentator Jojo Robles of the Manila Standard Today cited the Bataan Nuclear Power--the nation's single biggest debt and incurred during Marcos administration--which took 10 years to build at a cost of US$2.3billion, and which to this day has not produced a single watt of electricity. Mr. Robles said: "In this time of ever-escalating debt and oil prices, someone should tell Imee Marcos to get a grip on reality before absolving her father and his men...we're still paying the costs of Marcos the Elder's kelptocracy, whether in the form of higher power costs because of an unused power plant or unending payments incurred by a thieving regime." [11]

There were several accusations of atrocities directed to Imee Marcos' security guards during martial law. In a university open forum conducted by Ms. Marcos on August 1977, Archimedes Trajano was forcibly taken by Imee Marcos' personal guards after he posted a question which embarrassed Ms. Marcos. Archimedes Trajano's body was found several days later, tortured and beaten to death. [12] Trajano's family was among those awarded by the U.S. Federal Court in Hawaii, for damages for human rights violation covering torture, disappearances, and murder attributed to the military or the Marcos family during the Marcos dictatorship. The Trajano family meanwhile (as of 25 September 2006) has yet to see a penny of this compensation. [12] [13]

Imee Marcos is widely criticized for taking the lead in street protests in defense of human rights abuses which they say is out character for a daughter of a former dictator whose regime was well-known for its brutal violations of human rights. [14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Congress Curriculum Vitae www.congress.gov.ph Retrieved 24 November, 2006.
  2. ^ Ferdinand Edralin Marcoswww.op.gov.ph Retrieved 24 November, 2006.
  3. ^ Biography for Imelda Marcoswww.imdb.com Retrieved 24 November, 2006.
  4. ^ Imee Marcos www.imeemarcos.com Source: "Imee Marcos" by Marites N. Sison, Filipinas, November, 1999 Retrieved 24 November, 2006.
  5. ^ a b c d Special Report: Imee Marcoswww.imeemarcos.com Source: "Special Report:Imee Marcos" by Tati V. Cruz,The Leader, September 2002 Vol. 1 No. 3 Retrieved 24 November,2006.
  6. ^ a b c d e Personal Information www.i-site.com Retrieved 24 November, 2006.
  7. ^ a b c d Imee R. Marcos Biographywww.imeermarcos.com Retrieved 24 November, 2006.
  8. ^ Remembering February 1986 www.imeermarcos.com Source: Newsbreak February 2003 Retrieved 24 November,2006.
  9. ^ The Downfall of Marcos www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil Retrieved22 November, 2006.
  10. ^ Chronicle of Troubled Times www.bulatlat.com
  11. ^ a b Debt, power and Imee Marcos www.manilastandardtoday.com
  12. ^ a b The Archimedes Trajano Case www.melonwater.com
  13. ^ Marcos wealth issue raised in federal courtstarbulletin.com
  14. ^ Rehabilitating a dictatorship www.ebalita.net

[edit] Further reading

  • Vizmanos, Danilo, author, Through the Eye of the Storm, Ken Inc., Manila, 2000 ISBN 971-8558-41-1
  • Vizmanos, Danilo, author, Martial Law Diary: Part 1 Popular Bookstore, Manila, 2003
  • Seagrave, Sterling, author, The Marcos Dynasty, Harper & Row, New York, 1988 ISBN 0-06-015815-8

[edit] External links