Marcos vs Marcos

The peaceful, nonpolitical rally of the Iglesia ni Cristo in Rizal Park became politically charged on its second night as it allowed a politician to address the crowd: President Marcos’ estranged elder sister, Sen. Imee Marcos.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

Ate Imee reminded everyone of an issue that was hurled against her only brother when he was running for president in 2022: that he was a cocaine-abusing weakling who did not deserve to lead the nation.

The accusation was publicly made by then president Rodrigo Duterte, as he was trying to persuade his headstrong daughter Sara to either move to succeed him or else support his preferred successor, his anak-anakan and super alalay Bong Go.

It wasn’t even a new accusation. Since his days as the princeling of the first Marcos administration, rumors of illegal drug use have hounded Ferdinand Marcos Jr. While low-key even at the height of power of the conjugal dictatorship, Bongbong Marcos was rumored to lead a sybaritic lifestyle.

The brains and achiever in the family, with a sense of humor almost as formidable as that of Digong Duterte, has long been seen to be the eldest: Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios Romualdez Marcos, a.k.a. Ate Imee.

Probably because it’s dictator Ferdinand Marcos who needed redemption in global image, it was his only son and namesake rather than Imelda Junior who took on the role of savior of the family name (and colossal fortune), by running for president in 2022.

Inday Sara and her bestie Imee ignored Tatay Digong’s rants and worked to get the UniTeam led by BBM elected - with spectacular results.

Why keep quiet about the drug abuse issue in 2022, only to dredge it up now? And if the concern about drug abuse is genuine rather than opportunistic, why skip mention of the drug trafficking allegations against Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte?