Marcos ‘worried’ over sis Imee: Lady on TV not her
The growing rift between President Marcos and his estranged sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, may not be mended anytime soon.
The President said on Monday that he doesn’t recognize the senator—at least the one he sees on television—as his sister, two weeks after she tagged him, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and their son, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, as drug users at an anticorruption rally.
“For a while now, we’ve been very worried about my sister. When I say we, I’m talking about friends and family, and the reason that is, is because the lady that you see talking on TV is not my sister. And that view is shared by our cousins, our friends. Hindi siya ’yan (That’s not her),” Mr. Marcos told reporters in a briefing.
“So, that’s why we worry. So, we are very worried about her. I hope she feels better soon,” he said, when asked if he was hurt by the action of the senator who spoke about the first family’s supposed “drug use” during the religious sect Iglesia Ni Cristo’s rally for transparency in Manila on Nov. 17.
Imee responded with a quick post on her Facebook page: “Bongbong, ako ’to, kung anu-ano na nakikita mo, ading. Patunayan mong mali ako—gusto kong mali ako. (Bongbong, it’s me. You’re seeing things, my younger brother. Prove me wrong—I hope I’m wrong.)”
Sandro Marcos earlier took exception to his aunt’s allegations, saying this was not the conduct of a “true sibling.” Malacañang had also denied her allegations and rejected calls that Mr. Marcos submit to a drug test.
No plan to talk
According to Mr. Marcos, he has no intention to reach out to his sister, who has allied herself with Vice President Sara Duterte after the latter broke away from the administration and quit as education secretary last year following congressional inquiries into her alleged misuse of government confidential and intelligence funds.
“We no longer travel in the same circles, political or otherwise. So, no,” the President said.
The feud between the siblings has been building over the course of several years.
After Marcos was elected president in 2022, his sister said that she played the “biggest part” in the formation of his tandem with Sara Duterte. “I think that while I was not part of the campaign headquarters, in fact, I had the biggest part,” she told ANC then.
Imee publicly expressed disagreements with some of the administration’s programs, including the use of retirement and pension funds for “high risk” investments under the proposed P275-billion Maharlika Wealth Fund.
Senate slate
In the run-up to the May 2025 midterm senatorial elections, the President included his sister in the administration’s slate, but Imee withdrew from the alliance. She cited as her reason the government’s assistance in the enforcement of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for former President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity over his war on drugs. She launched a Senate inquiry into Duterte’s arrest.
Imee also skipped the President’s fourth State of the Nation Address in July. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
