Sandro on aunt Imee: No act of a real sibling
President Marcos’ eldest son on Tuesday hit back at her aunt, Sen. Imee Marcos, after she claimed in her remarks at Monday night’s rally of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) that Mr. Marcos, his wife Liza and even the younger Marcos were into drugs.
In a statement, House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos called Senator Marcos’ allegations “false” and “dangerously irresponsible,” noting further that her accusation of drug use against him were “the first time ever.”
“What she did was saddening,” the congressman said. “For her to betray her own family brings a lot of pain to me, as a consequence of my respect [for] her for giving me my start in public life.”
Besides her allegations against her brother and sister-in-law, Senator Marcos also claimed that her nephew had offered drugs to her children and other relatives.
Widening gap
The younger Marcos, in response, said his cousins—the senator’s children Borgy Manotoc, Vice Gov. Matthew Manotoc and Michael Manotoc—could affirm to anyone concerned that he neither used nor peddled drugs in the family.
Senator Marcos’ remarks show “how low she has gone, to the point that she resorts to a web of lies aimed at destabilizing this government to advance her own political ambitions.”
“Hindi ito asal ng isang tunay na kapatid (This is not the conduct of a true sibling),” Representative Marcos said about his father’s sister.
That portion in his statement revived, on social media, old speculations about Senator Marcos’ parental origins—to which she said on Facebook: “Sandro wants to stir up speculations that I am not a true sister. There is only one solution. I will take a DNA test and they should take a hair follicle test.”
Senator Marcos’ speech at the INC rally was seen as a step further in her widening gap with the President, after she had aligned herself with the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte since her resignation as education secretary in June last year.
She spoke up against the enforcement of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant on former President Rodrigo Duterte on March 11, a month into the midterm campaign when she sought reelection.
Yet despite the backing of the Vice President and the INC, Senator Marcos placed last among the 12 winners in the midterm polls.
Her remarks against the President, the first lady, and Representative Marcos drew cheers among the crowd in the INC rally—which was supposed to end Tuesday but was cut short on Monday night
‘Demolish her own brother’
Palace press officer Claire Castro issued an immediate retort, calling Senator Marcos’ statements “a desperate move.”
“What was Senator Imee’s reason to demolish her own brother?” Castro asked. “Is it because the investigation into corruption is already under way and her allies in the Senate might be implicated?”
On Tuesday, Castro issued another statement on the matter, dismissing the Senator’s claim as baseless, or “kwentong kutsero.”
“So, why should AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) members be concerned?” she said when asked about the military’s support for Mr. Marcos. “No, Senator Imee’s allegations should not be taken seriously. It’s just noise.”
‘Un-Filipino’
Castro also rejected the senator’s challenge for her brother to take another drug test, reiterating her earlier statement that Mr. Marcos had already tested negative for cocaine in 2021, or after then President Rodrigo Duterte claimed there was a presidential aspirant at that time who was taking drugs.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said he was “disappointed with Senator Marcos’ action.”
“That was very un-Filipino. We have seen siblings quarrel but they confine it inside the home… But to bring your conflict in front of hundreds of thousands of people at the Luneta, to me that’s unacceptable as a Filipino. We Filipinos are not like that,” he said in an interview with True FM.
University of the Philippines political science professor Ranjit Rye agreed that “In our political culture, you don’t talk to your family members like that. There’s still a very strong streak of traditional political culture in our land. And she nearly lost the last elections.”
Rye said Senator Marcos’ accusations may have “hurt her politically more than it hurt the President.”
“She was out of control,” he said. “I think it took the organizers by surprise …. You know, she’s a loose cannon in some sense.”
For Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña and Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima, the “family drama” among the Marcoses is yet another case against political dynasties.
“We need an antipolitical dynasty law to end this unbearable and toxic family drama,” Cendaña said in a statement. “[Their] decades of rule [have] led us to our current state of politics. And the people continue to feel the power struggle of these political dynasties.”
De Lima said: “Our division and discord will serve no one but the corrupt.”
She called for the “enactment” of an antidynasty bill “with utmost urgency” and the formal establishment of an investigative body to look into corruption in infrastructure projects, to strengthen the current Independent Commission for Infrastructure probing the corruption scandal. —WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING, GILLIAN VILLANUEVA AND TINA G. SANTOS
