Imee Marcos has attributed the continued reign of the Marcos family to the inherent feudalism of Philippine culture. Although nominally democratic, Philippine society effectively blocks individual Philippine citizens from having much political power, forcing them to be dependent on powerful figures that social scientists have called "bosses" or "caciques".[8][9][10] Sandro Marcos, the most politically prominent of the fourth generation of Marcoses, has argued that political dynasties are simply a "natural progression" for members of powerful families.[11]
Although Article II Section 26 ofthe current Philippine constitution, promulgated after the Marcoses wereousted from the Philippines in 1986,[3] explicitly prohibits the perpetuation of political dynasties,[12][13] little legislation has since been put in place to enforce the provision.[13] The prominence of the Marcos family in Philippine politics has been stopped twice. The first came with the victory ofJulio Nalundasan over Mariano Marcos and the subsequent arrest of Ferdinand Marcos for his murder, the publicity for which brought Ferdinand Marcos to the national consciousness and eventually led to his rise to power.[5][6] The second was when the Marcos dictatorship was deposed by the 1986EDSA People Power Revolution and the family was exiled toHawaii. After Ferdinand Marcos's 1989 death, the remaining members of the family were allowed to return to the Philippines to face various corruption charges in 1992. However, they were able to return to political power that same year, to the dismay of many Filipino people, with the election of Bongbong Marcos as congressman for the second district of Ilocos Norte.[14]
At least one other branch of the family, that of Ferdinand Sr.'s sister Elizabeth Marcos-Keon, is also in politics, with her sonMichael Marcos Keon having been elected board member in 2004 and governor of Ilocos Norte in 2007.[15]
After 6 years,Bongbong Marcos announced his candidacy for President of the Philippines, promising unity and recovery, despite intense opposition due to his family's history.[18]
The Marcos political dynasty is generally acknowledged to have been founded when Mariano Marcos y Rubio (1897–1945) was elected to thePhilippine House of Representatives as congressman for the second district ofIlocos Norte in 1925,[5][6] although his father Fabian Marcos also served in local politics, as gobernadorcillo (the equivalent of today's mayor) of Batac in the days after the Philippine Revolution.
Mariano Marcos became a prominent member of the house, serving as chair of the house committee on ways and means and member of the committees on public instruction, public works, public estate, and mines and natural resources. In the election of 1932, however, he ran against Emilio Medina of Laoag and Julio Nalundasan of Batac. With the Batac vote split between him and Nalundasan, Medina won the house seat.
Mariano Marcos fought a highly contested election against Nalundasan for the same seat in 1935, and Nalundasan won by a landslide. A day after his proclamation, Nalundasan mocked Marcos publicly, organizing a mock funeral parade that ended in front of the Marcos house to show that Mariano's political career was "dead".[20]
On that same night, Nalundasan was shot dead by a sniper when he stepped out onto his back porch to brush his teeth.[6]: 23 Mariano Marcos, his brother Pio, his son Ferdinand, and his brother-in-law Quirino Lizardo all became suspects. Mariano and Pio were cleared of the crime, but Ferdinand Marcos and Quirino Lizardo were arrested.[20]
Aware of the publicity he could get out of the national coverage of the trial, Ferdinand represented himself before the court, with the lawyers hired by the family for the trial guiding him in his legal arguments.
Ferdinand initially lost the case and he and Lizardo were convicted. Public interest in the case, however, led to theSupreme Court of the Philippines eventually overthrowing the conviction, with Associate JusticeJosé P. Laurel arguing that it would have been a waste for someone with Ferdinand's legal talents to merely rot in a prison cell.[21]: 41
The trial, and the overturning of the conviction turned Ferdinand Marcos into the "most famous young man in the islands", with then-PresidentManuel L. Quezon arranging to meet the boy and suggesting that he use the newfound popularity to enter Philippine politics.
Before that could happen, however, the Marcoses were overtaken by the events of World War II.
Mariano Marcos was executed in the closing days of the war, on March 8, 1945. The Marcos family's account claims that he was executed by the Japanese, but other eyewitness accounts say that he was caught by Philippine guerillas, tried as a Japanese collaborator, and executed through dismemberment using twocarabaos.[22][23]
Ferdinand Marcos and the rise of the Marcos dynasty (1949–1986)
The Marcos family during the 1969 inauguration of then-President Ferdinand Marcos
Because the Nalundasan murder trial resulting drew wide public attention in the years immediately prior to the war, Mariano's sonFerdinand was in an ideal political position to enter politics in the postwar years.[24]
Ferdinand Marcos's rise to power was dramatic. He served three terms in Mariano's own former position as the Philippine House of Representatives as the Congressman for the second district ofIlocos Norte, from 1949 to 1959. Between 1959 and 1965, he served in the Philippine Senate, where he became Senate President until he won thePhilippine Presidential Election of 1965 to become thetenthpresident of the Philippines, staying in the position for 21 years despite the eight year (two four year terms) limitation set by the1935 Constitution of the Philippines by placing the country underMartial Law in 1972.
Ferdinand Marcos's political prominence would pave the way for other members of the Marcos family to be appointed or elected to various national elections - what would eventually become known as the Marcos dynasty.
Dovie Beams and the expansion of the Conjugal Dictatorship
Some time in 1968, Ferdinand Marcos began an affair with Nashville actressDovie Beams. When Marcos got tired of the dalliance in early 1970 and broke up with Beams, the actress released sex tapes of herself and President Marcos. Author Seagrave recounts that:Student protesters at the University of the Philippines commandeered the campus radio station and broadcast a looped tape; soon the entire nation was listening in astonishment to President Marcos begging Dovie Beams to perform oral sex. For over a week the President's hoarse injunctions boomed out over university loudspeakers.[25]: 225
Historians note that Ferdinand Marcos's president's wifeImelda Marcos reacted to the humiliation by aggressively pursuing government positions.[25]: 225 This was later confirmed by Economic Planning Minister Gerardo Sicat in his biography of Prime MinisterCesar Virata, where he recounted that the creation of theMetro Manila Commission and the appointment of Imelda Marcos as its head in the position ofgovernor of Metro Manila was a direct result of Marcos attempting to placate his wife's tantrums after the Dovie Beams affair.[26]
Imelda Marcos held the position until the Marcos family was deposed in 1986, and would later be concurrently appointed to the Marcos cabinet as Minister of Human Settlements from 1978 to 1986. In addition, she was elected as Assemblyman for Region IV-A to the Batasan Pambansa from 1978 to 1984.[26]
A 2005 image of40 Wall Street, one of four Manhattan buildings purchased by the Marcoses in the early 1980s.
The Marcos family, a political family in thePhilippines, owns different assets that Philippine courts have determined to have beenacquired through illicit means during the presidency ofFerdinand Marcos from1965–1986.[27][28] These assets are referred to using several terms, including "ill-gotten wealth"[29] and "unexplained wealth,"[30] while some authors such asBelinda Aquino and Philippine SenatorJovito Salonga more bluntly refer to it as the "Marcos Plunder".[30][31]
Legally, thePhilippine Supreme Court defines this as the assets the Marcoses acquired beyond the amount legally declared by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos in the president's statements of assets and liabilities[29]—which amounts to only about US$13,500.00 from his salary as president. The court also deems that such wealth should be forfeited and turned over to the government or to the human rights victims of Marcos's authoritarian regime.[32] Estimates of the amount the Marcoses reportedly acquired in the last few years of the Marcos administration range from US$5 billion to $13 billion.[33]: 634–635 [34]: 27 No exact figures can be determined for the amount acquired through the entire 21 years of the Marcos regime, but prominent Marcos-era economist Jesus Estanislao has suggested that the amount could be as high as US$30 billion.[35]: 175
Among the sources of the Marcos wealth are alleged to be: diverted foreign economic aid (e.g.Marcos Japanese ODA scandal), US Government military aid (including huge discretionary funds at Marcos disposal as a "reward" for sending some Filipino troopsto Vietnam) and kickbacks frompublic works contracts over a two-decades-long rule.[36]
This wealth includes: real estate assets both within the Philippines and in several other countries, notably the United States; collections of jewelry and artwork; shares and other financial instruments; bank accounts, both in the Philippines and overseas, notably Switzerland, the United States, Singapore, and the British Virgin Islands;[37][38] and in some instances, actual cash assets.[39]
Some of this wealth has been recovered as the result of various court cases, either as funds or properties returned to the Philippine government, or by being awarded as reparations to the victims of human rights abuses under Marcos's presidency.[40][41] Philippine Supreme Court, Sandiganbayan, and courts abroad have issued convictions or rulings that confirm the plunder of Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos, Marcos family members, and cronies.[42][43] Some of the stolen wealth has been recovered by the Philippine government through settlements and compromise deals, either with the Marcoses themselves or with cronies who said that certain properties had been entrusted to them by the Marcoses.[39] Some of the recovery cases have been dismissed by the courts for reasons including improper case filing procedures and technical issues with documentary evidence.[44] An unknown amount[34] is not recoverable because the full extent of the Marcos wealth is unknown.[27]
Ferdinand's sister Elizabeth Marcos-Keon became governor of Ilocos Norte from 1971 to 1983. The Marcos couple's firstborn, Imee Marcos, was appointed chair of theKabataang Barangay from 1975 to 1986, and was assemblyman to the Batasang Pambansa for Ilocos Norte from 1984 to 1986. SecondbornBongbong Marcos become vice governor of Ilocos Norte from 1980 to 1983 and governor of that same province from 1983 to 1986.
Ferdinand Marcos was known forfavoring family members with business concessions.[45] He gave relatives government-related jobs, often putting them in charge of agencies or government-owned corporations with cash incomes.[46]
Fortuna Marcos Barba and her husband Marcelino Barba are said to have made a fortune fromgovernment logging concessions given to her by Ferdinand Marcos.[47][46] Fortuna owned four undeveloped lots in the fashionable April Sound subdivision on Lake Conroe in the United States. The lots were suspected of being purchased with money stolen from the Philippine treasury.[48] Fortuna Barba was the last surviving sister of Ferdinand Marcos until her death in March 2018.[49]
Only his brotherPacifico Marcos remains alive.[50] He was placed in charge of Medicare, which collects compulsory insurance contributions from Philippine workers. By 1979, he also controlled at least 14 private corporations involved in mining, coconut refining, and management consulting.[46]
The People Power Revolution, and the exile of the Marcoses (1986–1991)
Fearful of a scenario in which Marcos's presence in the Philippines would lead to a civil war,[52] the Reagan administration withdrew its support for the Marcos government, and flew Marcos and a party of about 80 individuals[53]—the extended Marcos family and a number of close associates[54]—from the Philippines to Hawaii.[52] All the Marcos children—Imee, Marcos Jr., Irene, and young Aimee—were on the flight.[55]
PresidentCorazon Aquino eventually allowed the members of the Marcos family to return to the Philippines after the death of Ferdinand Marcos, supposedly so that they could face various corruption charges.[57]
Within a year of returning to the Philippines, Imelda Marcos was running for president in the1992 Philippine presidential election, finishing 5th out of 7 candidates.[58] In that same year Marcos Jr. ran in a much smaller local election rather than a national race, easily regaining the family's traditional post of Congressman for the Second District of Ilocos Norte. Since then, Imelda, Ferdinand Jr., and Imee Marcos have run for numerous posts, alternatingly winning posts including the house seat for the Second District of Ilocos Norte, the house seat for the Second District of Ilocos Norte, the governorship of Ilocos Norte.Bongbong Marcos became a Senator from 2010 to 2016, and ran for the post of Vice President during the2016 Philippine presidential election, but narrowly lost toVice PresidentLeni Robredo. Following his defeat, he filed an electoral protest,[16] which was dismissed in 2021 following a recount that had begun since 2018.[59] He later ran for President in the2022 Philippine presidential election and won by alandslide over Robredo, marking the return of the Marcoses in the office after 36 years.[60][61]
Historians,[62] journalists,[63] other observers of Philippine politics have noted that the political rehabilitation of the Marcoses has been made possible through "historical distortion"—a systematic effort to revise the public's perception of the history of martial law and the Marcos administration.[64]
denial ordownplaying of the tortures and murders that took place during martial law;[70]
the myth that the Marcos period was a "golden age" rather than a period of debt-driven growth and corruption-triggered collapse;[71]
the myth that all the victims of martial law werecommunists or communist sympathizers;[72] and
the myth that the children of Ferdinand Marcos, who reached the age of the majority a few years after the declaration of martial law—were too young to know about the abuses of the martial law era.[73]
Some historiographers such as Filomeno Aguilar Jr. attribute the rise of Marcos revisionism to the lack of comprehensive, in-depth scholarly work on the history of the Marcos family and of Martial Law. While there is a significant body of scholarly literature on these subjects, it mostly takes the form of collections of papers, rather than comprehensive scholarly works.[74]
Imelda Marcos at a food doleout event during the waning days of the Marcos dictatorship. Although this took place at a government event, the text of the sign reads: "offered by President Ferdinand Marcos."
Bongbong Marcos: Vice governor of Ilocos Norte (1980–1983); governor of Ilocos Norte (1983–1986); member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Ilocos Norte's Second District (1992–1995); governor of Ilocos Norte (1998–2007); Senator of the Philippines (2010–2016);seventeenthpresident of the Philippines (2022-)
Imelda Marcos (byaffinity): Governor of Metropolitan Manila (1975–1986); Mambabatas Pambansa from Region IV-A (1978–1984); unsuccessful candidate for President in1992; member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Leyte's First District (1995–1998); member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Ilocos Norte's Second District (2010–2016). She was convicted of 7 counts of graft and corruption by theSandiganbayan anti-graft court on November 9, 2018.[78][79][80] The word "Imeldific" was coined to describe her extravagance, greed, and frivolity.[77][81]
Imee Marcos: Assemblyman from Ilocos Norte (1984–1986); member of the Philippine House of Representatives from the second district of Ilocos Norte (1998–2007); governor of Ilocos Norte (2010–2019); member of the Philippine Senate (2019–present). A US court ruled in 1991 that Imee Marcos was liable for the death of student Archimedes Trajano.[82][83][84]
Josefa Edralin Marcos, widow to Mariano Marcos and mother to former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Josefa Edralin Marcos (1893-1988): born Josefa Quetulio Edralin to Don Fructuoso Edralin y Carpio and Doña Emerenciana Quetulio y Taganas; was a school teacher and widow of Mariano and mother to Ferdinand; reputed to have served as chairperson of the board of more than a dozen companies during Ferdinand's 20-year presidency; left behind by the Marcoses at thePhilippine Heart Center when they fled the country in February 1986; Died in 1988.[87]
Irene Marcos-Araneta: The third of the Marcos siblings and the last biological child of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.
Aimee Marcos: The adopted daughter of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. Known as "Little Aimee", treated as the couple's bunso (lastborn); the only member of the Marcos family to still be a minor when Martial Law was formally lifted in 1981, and when the Marcoses were deposed in 1986; drummer for indie band "The Dorques."[88]
Andres Avelino Marcos Barba: Son of Col. Marcelino Barba and Fortuna Edralin Marcos, sister of Ferdinand Marcos. Avelino Barba's bodyguard allegedly shot and killed 17-year old Apolinario Buendia while Avelino Barba allegedly shot Buendia's parents during a fight over a girls volleyball match in Makati City in July 1978.[89][90]
Paolo Bediones: Paolo, only male child among four offspring, was born to Rodolfo Pineda Bediones (from Roxas City, Capiz) and Maria Teresa Barba who separated when Paolo was still young. His mother Maria is the daughter of Fortuna Marcos-Barba (Paolo's maternal grandmother) who's the sister of the late President Ferdinand Marcos (Paolo's maternal granduncle)[91]
Fernando Martin "Borgy" Marcos Manotoc: The son of Imee Marcos-Manotoc, a commercial model and entrepreneur.
Analisa Josefa Hegyesi Corr: The Australian-raised daughter of Ferdinand Marcos and former Sydney model, Evelin Hegyesi. Her second given name was taken after her grandmother, Ferdinand's mother, Josefa Edralin. Analisa is an accomplished interior designer; completing projects in London, Singapore, Sydney and Port Douglas, a commercial photographer, a successful residential property developer and dedicated equestrian; having competed in eventing, namely dressage and showjumping, around Australia and in England.[92][93] Her mother Evelyn is the beneficiary of a foundation Marcos set up, according to documents on Swiss bank accounts holding funds stolen from the Philippine treasury.[94]
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