Imee Marcos
Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios "Imee" Romualdez Marcos-Manotoc (born November 12, 1955) is a Filipino politician and film producer serving as a senator since 2019. She previously served as governor of Ilocos Norte from 2010 to 2019 and as the representative of Ilocos Norte's 2nd district from 1998 to 2007. She is a daughter of President Ferdinand Marcos and former first lady Imelda Marcos and the older sister of the current president, Bongbong Marcos.
Imee Marcos' political career began during her father's martial law regime. She turned 18—the age of majority in the Philippines—just fourteen months after her father's declaration of Martial Law, and later became Chairperson of the Kabataang Barangay (KB) and a member of the Batasang Pambansa. It was during her KB term in 1977 that activist Archimedes Trajano was abducted, tortured, and murdered shortly after publicly questioning her appointment to the office. With her interest in media, she produced various film projects such as the 1977 short propaganda film Da Real Makoy, helped establish the Metro Manila Popular Music Festival in 1978, and was made director general of the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines in 1982. After her family was ousted from power in the People Power Revolution of 1986, she and her husband Tommy Manotoc were exiled in Morocco.
After the death of Ferdinand Marcos in 1989, President Corazon Aquino allowed the Marcoses to return to the Philippines in 1991. Imee soon ran for political office, and won three terms in the House of Representatives and three terms as governor of Ilocos Norte. She was elected to the Senate in the 2019 elections.
Imee Marcos's conviction in the 1993 Trajano v. Marcos case (978 F 2d 493) before the U.S. district court in Honolulu is noted in U.S. legal circles for exposing the weaknesses of the act of state doctrine, allowing for similar suits to be filed.
She has been linked to the stolen wealth of her family, identified as a beneficiary of various Marcos offshore holdings as revealed in the Panama Papers and the findings in the court convictions of her mother Imelda Marcos. These holdings were defined as "ill-gotten wealth" by the Supreme Court of the Philippines, and are the subject of repatriation efforts by the Presidential Commission on Good Government. Amidst the growing rift between the Marcos and Duterte families during her brother Bongbong Marcos' administration, she has frequently sided with the Dutertes and their allies.
Early life
Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios Romualdez Marcos was born on November 12, 1955, in Mandaluyong (then a municipality in Rizal) as the eldest child of former president Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, former first lady Imelda (née Romualdez), both of whom exercised autocratic rule over the Philippines from December 1965 to February 1986. She has three other siblings: Bongbong Marcos (currently the president) Irene Marcos-Araneta, and Aimee Marcos, who was adopted.
She turned ten years old the day afterwards her father was elected in 1965. In an interview with her family-backed Filipinas Magazine in 1999, she admitted that she was uncomfortable living in 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".
While residing at the palace, Marcos asserted that she attended 'regular' schools in Manila. However, she had to discontinue her education due to the challenges faced by the First Family in going out caused by protest rallies outside Malacañang. These rallies, met with military assaults resulting in numerous Filipino deaths, were a response to her family's enduring conjugal dictatorship that spanned over two decades.
Education
During the 2019 elections, Marcos's educational background has been steeped in controversy. Under her parents' conjugal dictatorship, Marcos graduated from at least four schools (including three universities), she graduated as "Cum Laude" and "class valedictorian" in two public occasions.
