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Imelda Marcos (1980-1986)

Marcoses in the 80's
President Marcos’ health was deteriorating by the early 1980s, wherein Imelda began to actively get involved with state affairs. She always worried about a possible coup in her country whenever she was away and stayed alert to those rumors. Forced resignation of several members of the Cabinet and the foreign service happened under her command. She once fired a member of the Cabinet simply due to simple misunderstandings and little disagreements with him. According to fellow members, she fired him since he was a frank fellow, which Imelda did not like. Clearly, people saw who and what she liked and disliked. She disliked anyone in the way of her imperious desire and was willing to curve rules just for herself. In doing so, she even fired Defense Minister Enrile, claiming she was going to destroy him after he wanted to act by the rules but against her will. According to him, she was extremely unforgiving. Just because people thought of Enrile as President-esque, she hated him. She even kept General Fidel Ramos out of power also because of his credentials. She instead clung on to General Ver, who was said to be her chance at the presidency in case her husband died. She had a way with what she wanted, and if her desires were not reached, people in-charge would suffer.

Controversies Surrounding Imelda Marcos
Imelda Marcos entered into a marital arrangement with Ferdinand Marcos that ensured they give each other space to live their own private lives. While away from the Philippines and Malacanang Palace on official trips approved by Marcos, Imelda was known to surround herself with prominent male escorts. One of these was Hollywood actor George Hamilton, who was alleged to be her favorite among her coterie. Hamilton met Imelda in the early 1980s. The actor immediately dismissed allegations of anything other than a platonic relationship with the First Lady, citing her retinue of security guards who are loyal as per the president’s instructions.

After the Marcoses fled to Hawaii in 1986, the relationship between Hamilton and Imelda were placed under scrutiny. What had been discovered was a $1.2 million house in Beverly Hills bought by the actor in 1982. The property attracted attention after Hamilton used it as a collateral for a five-year $4 million loan from Calno Holdings NV, a Netherlands Antilles firm. After further investigation, one of the men behind the loan was revealed to be Diosdado Ordonez, who acted as negotiator on behalf of Calno Holdings. Ordonez was linked to Marcoses as one of their cronies.

Another one of Imelda’s reported favorites was pianist Van Cliburn. The two had allegedly been drawn closer due to their shared love of music. Imelda was known to frequent the Metropolitan Opera with Cliburn and would often arrive in elegant dresses, such as an ostrich cape which Cliburn was known to be fond of. The two would have hour-long telephone conversations, with the Marcoses phone bills amounting to millions of pesos in taxpayer money. Cliburn was named as a founding director of the Kildia Bee O’Bryan Cliburn Foundation, a trust fund, by Imelda herself.

In 1981, Imelda Marcos became the subject of a series of personal insults at the Washington Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during one of her trips to a recital by Cecile Licad, a then emerging Filipino piano sensation. The Filipino community in Washington was reported to have been dismayed at this display, accusing those who had engaged in the hurling of insults as an abuse of the freedom of speech

The Manila Film Center Incident
Early in the construction of the Manila Film Center, while Imelda was out of town, Ferdinand ordered work halted. When she returned, he backed down. The idea had come to her in a mystical vision in June 1980, to create an Asian answer to Cannes, next door to her Cultural Center. So much of the construction money was siphoned off by her claque that structural engineering was neglected. Two months before the festival was to open, two floors of the center collapsed, taking a number of workers with it. Officially, eight laborers died -- the real figure was said to be over thirty. Not to delay construction it was alleged that the bodies were left and concrete was poured over them. This distressed the superstitious, so Imelda reportedly had the center exorcised.

When Imelda's 1982 International Film Festival came around, it was estimated that $100 million had been spent, much of it on a huge Parthenon-style film center. Many of the stars she invited did not show up. Those who did included George Hamilton, Sylvester Stallone, Jeremy Irons, Brooke Shields, Peter O’Toole and Franco Nero. Imelda projected that the film festival would attract 4,500 celebrities, and would earn $52 million. In the end the Central Bank had to cough up $4 million just for operating expenses.

Controversial Purchases
Imelda Marcos has been known to make lavish purchases whenever she would travel abroad.

Leandro Coronel Victoria compared her to Nancy Reagan. According to Victoria, Reagan, who was often accused of excesses in her wardrobe and household appointment, did not even come close to the extravagant lifestyle of Imelda. Her international travel accommodations was criticized to have been blanketed in luxuries such as private chartered flights, abundant jewelry, and frequent high-value shopping sprees. Her entourage was also described to befit “that of an Ancient queen.” Victoria accuses Imelda of taking liberties with the money of the people, citing the lack of explanations for her sudden wealth, echoing out a common cry of all critics for the extravagant lifestyle of the First Lady.

Between 1975 and 1981 she was the most influential jewelry buyer in the world. A night person by nature, she asked jewelry store managers to open for showings at 4:00 A.M. Her bodyguards paid for the gems with thousand-dollar bills they pulled out of paper bags. Her retinue would return from these 4:00 A.M. shopping sprees to a brunch of filet mignon, fresh vegetables, Dom Perignon, strawberries, Courvoisier, and Godiva chocolates. Imelda would entertain lady friends by dumping the contents of large jewelry boxes on the floor, beaming happily while her guests tried them on. When she was bored with the latest offerings of Bulgari, Bucellati, and Harry Winston, she bought “historical” pieces, paying Harry Winston $5.5 million for the ‘Idol’s Eye’ -- a gem that supposedly inspired Steven Spielberg’s movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

She always insisted on a discount so some galleries automatically raised their prices 25 percent when they learned she was coming and then gave a discount of 15 percent. In all she spent $40 million in art galleries, a lot of it on worthless items or fakes. Gallery owners said she could have had it all for just $20 million if she had been well advised.

In 1981, Imelda Marcos purchased all the items from the Sotheby Parke Bernet auction in New York even before the auction opened.

She also spent $164,000 on handeliers, $30,000 on carpets, $19,500 on curtains, $100,000 on Steinway & Sons Pianos, and $8,000 on "Filipino workers' substinence", all to redecorate the former Philippine Consulate on East 66th street, New York.

On May 1983, Marcos had spent more than $2 million on jewelries in New York, and $1.3 million on other merchandise, as noted by Fe Roa Gimenez, secretary of the Philippine consulate in New York. The list of Imelda Marcos' purchases included $23,000 for books, $43,370 for silver flatware, $10,000 for an antique dessert service, $34,880 for limousines, $20,046 for unspecified "shopping" and $10,340 for bed sheets.

On February 15, 1984, Vilma Bautista (First Secretary at the Philippine Mission to the United Nations) received a bill marked 'Marcos' $40,650 worth of flowers. Gimenez, a month later, signed a check for $6,942 to F A O Schwarz, the tony Fifth Avenue toy store. Marcos had also bought baskets full of books from Scribner's book store on 5th Avenue.

Burial of Her Half-Sister
Imelda arranged for a funeral on the death of her half-sister Lourdes Romualdez in December ’83. It is speculated by critics that the grand funeral was done in order to receive sympathy and served as diversion from the death of Aquino that occurred three months before.

She had people in the Ministry of Human Settlements bus in mourners to the wake from Taytay and other outlying areas and rewarded with a sizeable amount whoever was willing to file past her half-sister’s remains lying in state at the Romualdez house in Pandacan. Allegedly, this was done in an attempt to collect a crowd of mourners she considered adequate for the occasion. A cousin and a nephew of hers who were present said 15 million pesos ($750,000) was spent for the funeral in two days. Barangay captains were given P1,000, councilmen, P500, Kabataang Barangay chairmen, P200. Imelda herself handed out the envelopes, assisted by Mayor Ramon Bagatsing. She told those preset that the money being distributed belonged to her late half-sister Lourdes, who had left no heirs.

When Lourdes’ corpse was taken to Leyte, Imelda instructed people in the Ministry of Human Settlements that she wanted 10,000 people to line the streets from the airport to the house where the body would again lie in the state. In ’86, the Presidential Comission on Good Government would discover that Imelda released P6 million of government money to people from Manila’s poor areas who were herded to Lourde’s wake. About 5,000 squatters from all over Manila received P1,000 each at this time, according to barangay and KB officials who “escorted” the squatters.)

Agrava Board
Ferdinand created a commission and handpicked the members of the Agrava Board, charged with undertaking an investigation of the assassination of Benigno Aquino Sr. Imelda, on her birthday on July 2, 1984, almost one year after Aquino’s slaying, agreed to submit herself to interrogation by the Marcos-created Agrava Board. Questioning focused on her last meeting with Aquino on May 21 of ’83 at the Philippine Center in Manhattan.

Newsweek had earlier reported that Mrs. Marcos warned Aquino about an assassination attempt being plotted against him by “some people loyal to us who cannot be controlled.”And in its September 19, 1983 issue, Newsweek also reported that Aquino feared three people: “General Fabian Verm the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, First Lady Imelda Marcos, and a powerful businessman who was a bitter rival of Aquino, Eduardo Cojuangco.”Imelda was queried about these reports and branded them as “pure fabrication.”

Imelda admitted having warned Ninoy of the danger to his life should he return, and emphasized to the Board that his welfare was her chief concern. She recalled to attempts she had made in the past to save his life. The first time was in 1980 when she personally facilitated Aquino’s release from prison and his departure for Dallas, Texas for his emergency heart bypass operation. The second time in May 1983, when she had cautioned him then about coming home because of polots against him. She also submitted as evidence a letter dated May 7, 1980 a letter of Aquino stating|In the past, I’ve been most critical of the First Lady’s project. Now that I’ve seen what she has done here at the Heart Center-I take back all my harsh words-hoping I do not choke… It is indeed ironical that one of her bitterest critics would be a beneficiary of her foresight. Along with an anting-anting(amulet) Aquino gave her as a “token of his appreciation.”The amulet turned out to be a crucifix Ninoy had worn during hisseven and a half years of confinement at Fort Bonifacio.

Salvador Laurel had earlier testified before the Board that Mrs. Marcos, when told that Ninoy would arrive on August 7, had said within earshot of assemblymen, journalists and other government officials: “That’s impossible! If he (Aquino) comes home, he’s dead.” But Imelda denied she had made such a comment, and claimed that what she had actually said was “Impossible. Hindi yan darating sapagkat may usapan kami.(That’s impossible. He won’t come home because we have a standing agreement.)” Imelda had also denied being informed of the security plans of the airport, saying “On security matters, the President keeps his cards very close to his chest.” Alfred McCoy had noted earlied that the Airport where Aquino was shot was Imelda’s territory. She had supervised the construction of the new terminal and handpicked the senior airport management. He further noted, “Most importantly, the military officers detailed to airport security were loyal to General Ver. Once out of the airport, Mr. Aquino would have been under Mr. Enrile’s protection.”

Imelda and Ninoy
Imelda would warn potential victims of her husband’s wrath. It was not clear whether it was a good heart, her conscience, or feminine instinct to avoid said violence, but she even warned Ninoy Aquino not to come back to the Philippines when he was abroad as she claimed he he might get killed. He said the same to supporters of Aquino, telling them to advice Ninoy not to come back due to the possible danger or threat to his life.

Elections for Batasang Pambansa in May of 1984
Despite the backdrop of economic and political crises, the Marcoses decided to push through with elections for Batasang Pambansa in May of 1984. Out of 15 electoral seats, 10 were won by UNIDO candidate and only five by the Marcos KBL party candidates. Allegedly, almost everywhere the First Lady concentrated her campaign efforts, electors took the palace’s pesos and voted against the regime, and massive ballot-rigging saved the government from defeat in many districts. In ’86, PCGG insiders divulged that Imelda spent P2.4 million on wristwatches and other “gifts” which she distributed to her party’s supporters during this election. PCGG officials also reported that from 1983 to ’86 regularly gave out envelopes containing P1,000 to P10,000 to visiting barangay officials and KB delegates in the Malacanang Palace. It was reported that the Central Bank of the Philippines printed more than P5 billion to finance the KBL candidates.