ILOCOS Norte Gov. Imee Marcos has a lot to say on other issues but was tight-lipped when questions were raised about her mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos, who was convicted of graft and corruption by the Sandiganbayan on November 9.
“No comment. I will leave it to the lawyers,” Imee said in a press conference in Cebu City yesterday.
Imee also refused to give a statement on the allegations that her mother was given a special treatment upon her conviction.
The Ilocos Norte governor was in Cebu yesterday, November 17, to attend the wedding of the daughter of Siquijor Gov. Zaldy Villa.
Her mother Imelda, the widow of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, posted a bail of P150,000 on Friday (November 16) after the Sandiganbayan allowed Mrs. Marcos to enjoy temporary liberty while the court decides on her motion for leave.
On Monday (November 12), Mrs. Marcos filed a motion for leave to allow her a temporary liberty while she appeals her conviction
Mrs. Marcos, 89, was convicted of illegally funneling about $200 million to Swiss foundations in the 1970s when she served as Metropolitan Manila governor while her husband, the late dictator, placed the Philippines under martial law.
The foundations she created with her husband had their children – Imee and former senator Bongbong – as beneficiaries.
Mrs. Marcos, who was ordered to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the seven counts of violating an anti-corruption law, appeared before the anti-graft Sandiganbayan court in Manila on November 12 accompanied by her children and grandsons.
She said she failed to attend the reading of her verdict because she wasn’t aware of it and also mentioned her frail health.
She said she was unable to attend the November 9 promulgation because she was “indisposed” and has “multiple organ infirmities.”
The presiding judge, Rafael Lagos, noted she was able to attend a birthday party of her daughter Imee.
Mrs. Marcos responded by saying that she received a call from daughter Imee who was “crying … (that) all the guests are already there.”
Anti-Marcos activists and human rights victims have welcomed the conviction as long overdue, although there are doubts she will be forced to serve prison time given her age and social status.
The court disqualified Marcos from holding public office, but she can remain a member of the powerful House of Representatives while appealing the decision.
Her congressional term will end next year but she has registered to run to replace her daughter as governor of Ilocos Norte.
Imee is now running for senator.
Mrs. Marcos can still run for governor as the decision of the Sandiganbayan was not yet final and executory, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The cases against her were filed in 1991 and took nearly three decades of trial by several judges and prosecutors.
She was once convicted of a graft case in 1993, but the Supreme Court later cleared her of any wrongdoing.
Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by an army-backed “people power” revolt in 1986.
He died in self-exile in Hawaii in 1989 but his widow and children returned to the Philippines.
Most have been elected to public offices in an impressive political comeback.
Change of heart?
Imee, while refusing to talk about her mother and address questions on her being the beneficiary of the Swiss foundations set up by her parents, instead spoke about the “change of heart” among Cebuanos on how they perceive the Marcoses.
“We are used to seeing Cebu as an opposition. But actually, my father won in the Cebu province except in Cebu City,” she said.
While in Cebu yesterday, Imee also took the time to engage in public activities, including a tour in a leading mall in the city.
The wedding was also attended by a number of other politicians, including Senators Bam Aquino, Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara, and JV Ejercito. Only Imee Marcos called for a press conference.
Imee, during the press conference, said she was confident she would also gain the votes of Cebuanos since, she claimed, the Cebuanos shared the “cries” of the Ilocanos.
“We see Cebu as the Ilocos of Visayas. We have the same problems such as the rising prices of commodities,” she said.
During her last visit in Cebu on August 21, however, there was a public backlash when Imee was quoted as saying that the Filipinos should “move on” instead of talking about the Marcos rule.
“The millennials have moved on, and I think people at my age should also move on as well,” she said during the opening ceremony of the Visayan Island Cluster Conference of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines.
The criticisms not only came from anti-Marcos advocates but also from among youth groups in the Philippines, including the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (Spark).
“She seems to have forgotten how the youth mobilized against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” said Spark in a statement on August 22.
VAT suspension
The Marcos daughter, meanwhile, promised that should she win in the senatorial race, she would seek to suspend the Value Added Tax (VAT) for the next five years in order to address inflation.
She said that although the economic managers of the Duterte administration are competent, she believed there is still room for other “radical ideas.”
“As we know VAT imposes 10-12 percent tax on everything that we buy, on all services that we buy. Napakabigat noon sa pagkain. Dahil sa pagkain na nagtataasan, yung mahihirap, halos 60 percent ng income nila napupunta sa pagkain (Because of the rising prices of food, the poor spends 60 percent of their income on food),” Imee said.