If there is one political figure who will always fascinate me, it would be no one else than Imelda Marcos. An icon. Portrayed as the modern day Cinderella who later on, consumed with power, ironically, turned into an evil queen herself. The steel butterfly. A name which will be written and remembered forever in the annals of Philippine history.
My fascination with Imelda started when I was in grade school when our school right after the EDSA Revolution arranged a tour in Malacanang Palace. First thing I saw as I walk the stairs leading to the main hall that truly made an impression on me is the painting of Ferdinand and Imelda personified as Malakas and Maganda, a folklore said to have started the Filipino race. That was just the beginning. As we go further with our tour, the grandiose of Malacanang and her collection of perfumes, dresses and shoes totally overwhelmed me. Everything I saw truly fits for a queen. And yes, there was a tiara among the myriad of her jewelry collections. Tons of documentaries were made and shown on almost all television stations. The Marcoses were portrayed as the antagonist, the oppressors and of course, the Aquino’s, the heroes, our nation’s saviors. At such a young age, I grew up believing all those stories told about the Marcoses. I grew up hating them. I blame them for our bad economy. I blame them for every poor Filipino. I blame them for everything. Yet for some reason Imelda continues to fascinate me. Her beauty. Her style. Her taste. Her shoe collection. Her life story. Everything about her fascinates me.
A month ago, I received a surprise call from my friend. He told me that he was able to set up an appointment with Mrs. Marcos for me to meet her personally. He used to work for her as an apprentice while finishing his law school after Imelda returned to the Philippines. He now works as a lawyer for the government, at the Office of the Solicitor General. I never really thought he could pull out this one. I was dying to meet her. Who wouldn’t? I have two coffee table books about the Marcoses, one specifically created to chronicle her 10 day visit to China in 1978 and I would love for her to sign them.
Our appointment was at 3pm. We arrived at the Batasang Pambansa half an hour early. By 2:45pm, the personal aide of Mrs. Marcos arrived, welcomed and led us to a hall where a congressional hearing was taking place. When we entered the room, my attention naturally gravitated towards her. There she was, Imelda. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her given other notable personalities were also present. Among them were Gina de Venecia, Lani Mercado, Lucy Torres, and their guest Sec. Dinky Soliman who at that time was discussing to the legislators the Conditional Cash Transfer program of the Aquino administration implemented through her agency, the DSWD. We were ushered to our seat. As I was staring at her aged face, I tried as much as I could to remember everything I know about her. I tried to picture in my mind her beauty when she was young. Ah yes, beauty does fade with time but there’s still something in her that captivates me. At one point of the discussion, she was given the floor to speak. And she spoke about that time when she was still the First Lady. She told the story how the reclamation area in Manila came about. How she tried to address the concerns of the homeless and the plight of the poor people of Manila. She talked in lengths, enumerating the accomplishments of the Marcoses. To this time, Imelda is still living in her own realities.
And then the moment I’ve been waiting for came, time to be introduced to Mrs. Marcos. I was hoping to spend more time with her and make her tell stories during the days of the Marcos era. But that did not materialize for she had to go to the Plenary and her aides were rushing her to proceed immediately. I was briefly introduced to Imelda and had our picture taken. While shaking hands with her, I tried to feel the touch of her hands, tried to feel the magic that made even the strongest and wisest men bow to her. Until I realized, it was far beyond the limits of magic spell, it was her natural charisma. She’s indeed very charismatic. I could just imagine how many politicians swooned over her during her younger years, and that of course as we all know includes Ninoy. Imagine having all that charisma and beauty? She’s indeed Marcos lethal weapon. If I were an opposition at that time, I’d probably be like Perseus who’d kill her but would not attempt to look at her face frightened her stare might turn me into stone. Yes, the meeting was indeed brief but it was a date with history.
Her rise from her humble beginning to power is unremarkable. How she controlled Ferdinand Marcos was like watching Samson yielding to Delilah or Adam surrendering to the whims of Eve, or Julius Caesar to Cleopatra. All these great men fell because of women. Yes, Ferdinand was no exception. During the latter years of the Marcos era, about 3 or 5 years prior EDSA, Ferdinand was already weak debilitated by a kidney ailment. He can barely attend his cabinet meetings, much more pay attention to Imelda as she was running our country by herself. Imelda emerged as the government main public figure, unofficially, the 11th president of the republic. It was probably this reason why Enrile said in one of his interviews, “There would be no EDSA, if there’s no Imelda”.
My fascination does not however translate to admiration; allow me please to make such point. My fascination of Imelda did not blind me of the fact that indeed many Filipinos suffered during their time from oppression and abuse. Billions of dollars were ransacked from the coffers of our nation which could have provided livelihood to every hungry Filipinos. Her name may indeed be marked forever in our history but unfortunately not for the right and good reasons. However, history maybe unkind towards her but time will be forgiving. When Singapore gained its independence from Malaysia, it only took them 20 years to position themselves as one of the wealthiest in our region. Japan rehabilitated itself from the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima for only 15 years to be the number one economy in Asia. And yet after 25 years since EDSA, our economy has not really grown. We remain as an impoverished nation. Do we still blame the Marcoses for that? Every single president elected after EDSA was no different. Not one was spared from corruption scandals; one was even convicted of plunder. We continue to tolerate corruption, a disease that continues to weaken our democratic institutions and our economic gains. There is no one now to be blamed but us. For years, even to this moment, the Marcoses have become our scapegoat to excuse ourselves of our impotence to move this country forward. It’s time that we own up to our mistakes and responsibilities.
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