| Imelda R. Marcos | |
|---|---|
| Marcos in 1982 during a state visit to the United States. | |
| Member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Ilocos Norte's Second District | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office June 30, 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. |
| Member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Leyte's First District | |
| In office June 30, 1995 – June 30, 1998 |
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| Preceded by | Cirilo Roy G. Montejo |
| Succeeded by | Alfred S. Romuáldez |
| 10th First Lady of the Philippines | |
| In office December 30, 1965 – February 25, 1986 |
|
| Preceded by | Eva Macapagal |
| Succeeded by | Amelita Ramos |
| Mambabatas Pambansa (Assemblyman) from Region IV-A | |
| In office June 12, 1978 – June 5, 1984 |
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| Governor of Metropolitan Manila | |
| In office 1976 – February 25, 1986 |
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| Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary | |
| In office 1978–1986 |
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| Minister of Human Settlements | |
| In office 1978–1986 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romuáldez July 2, 1929 Manila, Philippines |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Political party | Nacionalista (2009–present) Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (1978–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Ferdinand Marcos (1954–1989) |
| Children | Imee Marcos Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Irene Marcos-Araneta Aimee Marcos |
| Alma mater | St. Paul's College |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Imelda R. Marcos (born Imelda Remedios Visitasion Romualdez on July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician and widow of 10th Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Upon the ascension of her husband to political power, she held various positions to the government until 1986. She is the first politician elected as member of the Philippine legislature in three geographical locations (Manila, Leyte, Ilocos Norte). In 2010, she was elected to become a member of the House of Representatives to represent Ilocos Norte's second district. She is sometimes referred to as the Steel Butterfly or the Iron Butterfly.[1][2] She is often remembered for symbols of the extravagance of her husband's political reign, including her collection of 2700 pairs of shoes.[3]
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Her paternal ancestors, the Lopezes of Leyte, were wealthy, landed and prominent and claimed to have founded the town of Tolosa, Leyte. Spanish mestizos, the Lopezes were descended from the Spanish friar and silversmith Don Francisco Lopez, originally from Granada in the Andalusian region of Spain. Together with Fray Salustiano Buz, he arrived by way of Acapulco to build Roman Catholic missions in the island provinces of Samar and Leyte (Buz would establish his home base in Palapag, Samar, the exit-entry point of the Manila Galleons in the Visayas islands).[4] It was common then for Spanish friars to take mistresses, and Lopez's life-long relationship with a Chinese mestiza, Maria Crisostomo y Talentin of Basey, Samar, produced seven boys and seven girls. The eldest of these daughters was Trinidad Lopez, or Doña Tidad in later years.
Tidad and her sisters were forced to accompany their aging father to Manila, where Francisco Lopez was assigned by the Spanish clergy to the church in Pandacan, Manila, known for a miraculous well sought by tuberculosis patients. Through his connections, Fray Francisco Lopez's daughters were able to attend to nearby schools of the home administered by the local nuns. One of the tuberculosis pilgrims, Daniel Romualdez, courted Tidad, who eventually agreed to marriage. Her husband's relatives did not like her, especially when she decided to leave Manila for Leyte; she believed that Leyte's sea baths would be good for his lungs and constitution.
Daniel and Tidad had three sons: Norberto Lopez Romualdez, born in Burauen, Leyte; Miguel Lopez Romualdez, born in Dagami, Leyte; and Vicente Orestes Lopez Romualdez (Imelda's father), born in Tolosa, Leyte.
Her branch of the family was not political. Her father, a law professor at Saint Paul's College and the administrator of the Romualdez Law Offices founded by his brother Chief Justice Norberto Romualdez, was a scholarly man more interested in music and culture than public life. He was a traditionalist, preferring to teach in Spanish while the rest of the students and faculty spoke English and Tagalog.
Her mother, Remedios Trinidad y de Guzman or Remedios T. Romualdez, a former boarder at the Asilo de San Vicente de Paul (Looban Convent) in Paco, Manila, was said to have been born out of wedlock, the child of a friar.[5] Remedios was from the town of Baliuag, Bulacan, and her own mother was from Capiz.
Marcos spent her childhood in the shadow of the Malacañang Palace in San Miguel District in Manila, since her family then lived near San Miguel Pro-Cathedral. (The Malacanang Gardens across the Palace used to be owned by her grandfather Daniel Romualdez. He sold the land for the education of his sons Norberto, Vicente Orestes and Miguel at the Ateneo de Manila). After Marcos's mother Remedios died in 1938, and their home was nearly foreclosed, her father, Vicente Orestes, moved his family back to Leyte to live on their abaca and coconut plantation given to him by his deceased mother, Trinidad Romualdez y Lopez.[5] Marcos earned a bachelor's degree in education in Tacloban's St. Paul's College."[6]
She became a beauty queen and at the age of 18 was crowned the "Rose of Tacloban." She later became "Miss Leyte." Previously, during Philippine-American Friendship celebrations, a daughter of the prominent Price family of Tacloban was crowned "Miss America" while she was crowned "Miss Philippines."
Finally, she flew to Manila in 1950 after her cousin, Speaker Daniel Romualdez y Zialcita (her uncle ex-Manila mayor Miguel Romualdez's son) saw her potential to attract crowds. She worked in the music stores of the Escolta. Because of her beautiful singing voice, many customers requested for her to sing. She sang frequently and made many profits for the store. However, her father Vicente Orestes found out. He found it below a Romualdez to do such a thing, considering the Romualdez name carried such a cachet (a good name left as an undying legacy by eldest brother Norberto Romualdez, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court). He took the next flight from Tacloban to Manila. He stormed Danieling's offices and demanded an explanation. "Gin babaligya mo ba ang akon anak?" (Are you trying to sell my child!?!) was his charge against Danieling. Thus, Marcos was later hired at the Philippine Central Bank headed by her speaker-cousin's brother, Eduardo Romualdez y Zialcita, in the brand new offices in Quezon City.
She took voice lessons at the music conservatory of the University of Santo Tomas with the help of Norberto's daughter, Loreto Romualdez Ramos and her friend, Mrs. Adoracion Reyes. Her photogenic face soon graced many of Manila's magazine covers and she was named the "Muse of Manila" by then Manila Mayor, Arsenio Lacson, a special title given to her after she protested her loss in the Miss Manila pageant.
During her early years in Manila, she lived with her cousin, Danieling and his wife Paz Gueco along Dapitan Street in Quezon City. There she was introduced to the machinations of political life since the house was a de facto headquarters for the Nacionalista party. Paz, or Pacing, took care of her ward Imelda. On certain family picnics along the Parua river straddling Magalang, Pampanga (where the Guecos owned large ricelands) and Concepción, Tarlac, she brought along Imelda, whom the Guecos were excited to see since she was so beautiful--- the newest political asset of the great politician holding sway in Eastern Visayas. On that picnic also came Benigno Aquino Jr from nearby Concepcion, who was himself a nephew of Pacing. It was Benigno or Ninoy whom Pacing asked to escort Imelda on the way home from her job in the Escolta on some nights. Also, she was once invited to the parties of Pedro Cojuangco or Pete, (eldest brother of Cory Aquino) where she was told to wear a flapper dress. She came home ridiculed and slighted by most of the landed scions of Pampanga.
After some time, Marcos started receiving formal visits from Ariston Nakpil, a United States educated heir to the Juan Nakpils of Manila. He was a son of a former Miss Philippines, Anita Noble. However, Ariston had a quick marriage-and-divorce episode. Essentially, he was a divorced man. To the eyes of the Romualdezes, if Imelda married him, she would always be the second wife, a concubine. The Romualdezes, staunch Catholics, as the rest of the Philippines at that time, was against the concept of divorce. Her cousin Loreto Romualdez Ramos asked her to distance herself from Nakpil and his invitations to their Batangas farm family picnics. Shortly thereafter, Marcos's father Vicente Orestes Romualdez found out and "talked some sense" to his daughter. All of them urged Imelda to call off the visits from Nakpil, whom they would not accept into their family as he already had a legal impediment. (During the Marcos years, Ariston's sister Edith Nakpil Rabat would be a Blue Lady of Marcos)
In 1953, Marcos met then-Ilocos Norte Congressman Ferdinand E. Marcos. After a whirlwind eleven day courtship in Baguio during Holy Week, and with much prodding from Danieling (He and Ferdinand Marcos were both sitting congressmen at that time), Eduardo and his wife, Conchita Romualdez (not to be confused with Imelda's youngest sister, Conchita Romualdez Yap), they were married in May of that year at the San Miguel Pro-Cathedral on General Solano street, San Miguel, Manila. This was the same church where her mother Remedios T. Romualdez was wed and interred in 1938, fifteen years earlier. President Ramon Magsaysay was principal sponsor (he would also be the wedding sponsor to Benigno Aquino Jr and his wife Corazon in that same year). President Magsaysay, a Nacionalista party member, allowed then Congressman Ferdinand Marcos to hold his wedding reception in the Malacanang Gardens primarily because of the Romualdezes, who have always identified with the Nacionalista party.[6] They have four children: Maria Imelda "Imee" Marcos, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., Irene Marcos, and Aimee Marcos, who was adopted from within the Romualdezes.
In 1960, her father reluctantly left his beautiful Leyte to be with Imelda. He stayed with his eldest child from his second marriage in the Marcos house in San Juan. Imelda, who by then was now head of their branch of the Romualdezes, took great effort to end any hard feelings between her and her half siblings. Half sister Lourdes Romualdez Caguiat left the United States and her husband Emilio to care for Vicente Orestes. The latter died there in San Juan. Distraught, Imelda refused for her father's body to be prepared elsewhere. Vicente Orestes Romualdez was embalmed in the San Juan home. Pregnant with daughter Maria Victoria Irene Marcos, she cried so hard during the burial that Marcos almost fell into the grave.
Between then and 1965, Marcos was constantly featured in many magazine covers. She travelled around the entire country to get to know each and every politician that could help her husband Ferdinand win the presidency one day. She learned how to sleep while sitting upright with her elaborate coiffure intact; she sang to the audiences; she was baptismal and wedding sponsor to all; she was the eyes and ears of her husband. Her determination was unbelievably boundless, even when most among the wives of the Senators looked down upon her, such as Lourdes "Lily" Padilla (née De las Alas), the young wife of Senator Ambrosio Padilla and also a sister of the deceased Natividad or "Nene", the first wife of Ramon Cojuangco (Ramon would later marry Imelda Ongsiako Cojuangco who would be a constant friend and Blue Lady of Marcos). Her very few friends during this phase were her neighbors in San Juan and Elvira Manahan, also a senator's wife.
In 1966, Ferdinand Marcos became the 10th President of the Philippines. Together with Imelda, he would rule the Philippines from September 21, 1972 up to his removal in February 1986 in the famous People Power Revolution when he fled the Philippines.
In December 1965, Ferdinand E. Marcos became the 10th Philippine President of the Philippines. She was featured in countless magazines locally as well as abroad. She was considered as the youngest and most beautiful first lady the Philippines had. In 1969, Ferdinand Marcos became the first President of the Philippine Republic to be re-elected a second and last 4-year term amidst charges of vote buying and election fraud.
On September 23, 1972, Marcos declared martial law to preserve his hold on power. It was during the martial law period that he abolished the Philippines' 1935 constitution and established a parliamentary system (Batasang Pambansa or National Assembly) composed mainly of his own political appointees. It was during this period that Imelda Marcos assumed a more public and powerful role in the government. She was appointed by her husband to various positions in the government, such as: Governor of Metropolitan Manila, Minister of Human Settlement, and Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary. On December 7, 1972, an assailant, Carlito Dimahilig, tried to stab her to death with a bolo knife during an award ceremony broadcast live on television. Critics claimed the assassination attempt was staged. The assailant was shot to death by security police and the wounds on Marcos' hands and arms required 75 stitches.[7] In 1978, she was elected as member of the 165-member Interim Batasang Pambansa (National Assembly) representing the National Capital Region.
As a Special Envoy, Imelda toured China, the Soviet Union, and the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe (Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, etc.), the Middle East, Libya, then ruled by strongman Muammar Gaddafi, the non-Soviet dominated communist state of Yugoslavia, and Cuba. To justify the multi-million expenditure of traveling with a large diplomatic entourage using private jets, she would later claim diplomatic successes that included securing of a cheap supply of oil from China and Libya, and in the signing of the Tripoli Agreement.
Imelda's extravagant lifestyle reportedly included five-million-dollar shopping tours in New York, Rome and Copenhagen in 1983, and sending a plane to pick up Australian white sand for a new beach resort. She purchased a number of properties in Manhattan in the 1980s, including the $51-million Crown Building, the Woolworth Building (40 Wall Street) and the $60-million Herald Centre; she declined to purchase the Empire State Building for $750m as she considered it "too ostentatious." Her New York real estate was later seized and sold, along with much of her jewels and most of her 175 piece art collection, which included works by Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Canaletto. She responded to criticisms of her extravagance by claiming that it was her "duty" to be "some kind of light, a star to give [the poor] guidelines."[8]
She also orchestrated lavish public events using millions of dollars in public funds to extol her husband's regime and bolster her public image. Imelda secured the Miss Universe 1974 pageant for Manila, which necessitated the construction and completion of the 10,000-seat Folk Arts Theater in less than three months. Marcos organized the Kasaysayan ng Lahi, an extravagant festival parade showcasing the history of the Philippines.[9][10] She initiated social programs such as the Green Revolution, a program that, although it did not address hunger and the core problem of agricultural land reform (most Filipino farmers were tenant farmers and did not own their land), encouraged Filipinos to plant vegetables and fruits in their gardens. Other short-lived social programs included a national family-planning program to reduce the country's population growth.[11]
On the other hand, institutions such as Cultural Center of the Philippines, Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, Kidney Institute of the Philippines, Nayong Pilipino; Philippine International Convention Center, Folk Arts Theater, Coconut Palace, and the Manila Film Center, built in 1982 to host her's short-lived international film festival are all Marcos' brainchildren.
On 1981, martial law was lifted and, in the same year, Marcos was re-elected as the president of the country.
When Marcos began to suffer from lupus erythematosus in the 1980s, it was said that Imelda was acting in many ways, as the de facto president of the Philippines. There was also speculation at that time that if Marcos were to die due to his grave illness, Imelda and her husband's trusted military officer, General Fabian Ver, then the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, would seize power. After the assasination of opposition leader and Marcos' chief critic, former senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. on the tarmac of then Manila International Airport on 1983, Imelda and Ver (aside from Marcos) would be also accused of ordering his assasination. In fact, Imelda was summoned to the investigation of the Agrava Commission, an independent fact-finding panel formed by her husband to investigate this assasination. Meanwhile, the First Lady denied the allegation against her.
On the 1986 snap presidential elections, she supported Marcos in his bid to be re-elected for the presidency against Corazon Aquino, a neophyte opposition leader and the widow of Aquino.
In the same year, Marcos would be ousted in a non-violent People Power revolt, which was triggered by the defection of then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and then AFP vice-chief of staff Lt. General Fidel Ramos.
On February 25, 1986, Ferdinand Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii (via Guam) after his regime was toppled by the four-day People Power Revolution in EDSA. Also, the place where her shoes and jewelry were being kept was destroyed, the contents stolen. Even a painting of Imelda was destroyed outside the Malacanang. Marcos was succeeded by Corazon C. Aquino, widow of Benigno Aquino, Jr., Marcos' foremost political opponent, who was assassinated at the Manila International Airport during his return to the Philippines in 1983 after years of political exile. It was widely assumed that Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were involved in the assassination, which ignited the People Power Revolution of 1986. Upon assuming office, President Aquino issued Executive Order No. 1, creating the Presidential Commission on Good Government to investigate and sequester the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses. President Aquino abolished the Batasang Pambansa (Philippine Parliament) and the Ministry of Human Settlements, both creations of Marcos, and established in 1987 a modified version of the Philippines' original 1935 constitution, which had been abolished in 1972 by Marcos. After the Marcos family fled Malacañang Palace, Marcos was found to have left behind 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 1000 handbags[12] and 1,060 pairs of shoes. The exact number of shoes varies between accounts; estimates of up to 3000 pairs of shoes have been published,[13] but Time later reported that the final tally was 1,060.[14] In 1992, Marcos claimed that her fortune came from Yamashita's Gold.[15] In February 2006, Marcos insisted that her husband had acquired his wealth legitimately as a gold trader. By the late 1950s, she claimed, he had amassed a personal fortune 7,500 tons of gold, and after gold prices climbed in the 1970s, the Marcos family was worth about $35 billion.[8] However, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has no record of the Marcos family declaring or paying taxes on these assets, and the source of their wealth remains open to investigation.[8]
Ousted President Marcos died in exile on September 28, 1989. President Aquino refused to permit the repatriation of his remains for national-security reasons.[16] The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the government in Marcos vs. Manglapus.[17] In 1991, Marcos was allowed to return home.
Marcos was the first wife of a foreign head of state to stand trial in an American court. In 1990, she was acquitted of racketeering and fraud charges, alongside co-defendant Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian former billionaire and arms dealer. The "theatrical" trial involved many celebrities: Marcos and Khashoggi were represented by trial lawyer Gerry Spence; Marcos' $5-million-dollar bail was posted by tobacco heiress, Doris Duke,who befriended her while they both lived in Hawaii; and actor George Hamilton was a star witness for the defense.[18]
In 1992, Mrs. Marcos ran and finished fifth in the seven-way presidential race. Her votes were split between her, with 2,338,294 votes, and Ambassador Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., a close advisor and friend of Ferdinand Marcos, with 4,116,376 votes. Fidel Ramos, the candidate endorsed by Corazon Aquino, received 5.3 million and won the election.[19]
In 1995, she was elected Congresswoman of Leyte, representing the first district of her home province. She overwhelmingly defeated then Rep. Cirilo Montejo by a landslide victory (70,471 votes against Montejo's 36,833 votes). Initially, a disqualification case was filed against her but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of her.
In 1998, she made another bid for the presidency but later backed out of the race to support the candidacy of then Vice President Joseph Ejercito Estrada. Marcos finished 9th among 11 candidates vying for the Philippine government's top post. During the administration of her friend and ally, President Joseph Estrada, many of the cases filed by the Aquino government were dismissed by Ombudsman Aniano Desierto, owing to technicalities (lapse of the prescriptive period for filing cases). On June 29, 1998, the Sandiganbayan (Philippine anti-corruption court) convicted the Former First Lady of the charge that she had entered into an agreement disadvantageous to the government. On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed the decision and cited Sandiganbayan Justice Francis Gatchitorena for his alleged bias against Mrs. Marcos.[20]
She ran once again for the House this time for second district of Ilocos Norte in the 2010 elections, to replace her son, incumbent Rep. Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., who is running for Senator under the Nacionalista Party. She won over her nearest rival Mariano Nalupta, Jr. by 80% to 20%.
On September 21, 2007, the Sandiganbayan's 5th Division chair Associate Justice Ma. Cristina Cortez-Estrada granted Marcos' motion for daily trial on her 10 pending graft cases (beginning January 21, 2008, as requested by defense lawyers on September 17 alleging, inter alia, illnesses).[21]
On March 10, 2008 Judge Silvino Pampilo (Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 26) acquitted Marcos of 32 counts of dollar salting (involving £430m in Swiss bank accounts) due to reasonable doubt. Marcos stated: "First of all, I am so happy and I thank the Lord that the 32 cases have been dismissed by the regional court here in Manila. This will subtract from the 901 cases that were filed against the Marcoses." Her lawyer Robert Sison said that she has 10 pending criminal cases remaining before the Sandiganbayan Courts.[22][23]
On September 14, 2010, the Sandiganbayan's Fifth Division has ordered Imelda Marcos to return 12 million pesos ($280,000) in government funds secretly taken out by her late husband from the National Food Authority 27 years ago.[24][25]
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Evangelina Macapagal |
First Lady of the Philippines 1965 – 1986 |
Vacant
Corazon Aquino was widowed, her husband Beniquo was considered a posthumous First Gentleman
Title next held by
Amelita Ramos |
| House of Representatives of the Philippines | ||
| Preceded by Cirilo Roy C. Montejo |
Member of the House of Representatives from Leyte's 1st district 1995–1998 |
Succeeded by Cirilo Roy C. Montejo |
| Preceded by Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. |
Member of the House of Representatives from Ilocos Norte's 2nd district 2010–present |
Incumbent |
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