Political family feud

It was an unexpected invitation to have lunch and meet Sen. Imee Marcos, especially because I am a business columnist.

- MARIANNE GO

I was initially not sure if I should go to the lunch invitation at the La Cabrera in EDSA Shangri-La since politics is not normally what I write about in the business section of The STAR.

But I was curious enough to want to find out about the Marcos family feud, especially since STAR editor-in-chief Amy Pamintuan, associate editor Marichu Villanueva, Opinion page columnists Cito Beltran and Alex Magno, Lifestyle columnist Wilson Lee Flores, Philippine Daily Inquirer business editor Tina Dumlao and a couple of other editors and columnists from other publications were also invited, and it seemed a big announcement would be made.

True enough, Sen. Imee formally announced her decision to leave her brother's Alyansa senatorial slate, admitting that there was no sense in staying with the Alyansa coalition party since her own brother was not even inviting her to the provincial sorties and was publicly declaring a slate of only 11 candidates. Her announcement was just formal confirmation.

What was interesting to me were the insights into the Marcos siblings' dynamics that Sen. Imee candidly shared, as well as her thoughts about the younger generation of voters.

First off, acknowledging her "Waray" roots from her mother's side and her role as the "kontrabida," she promises to fight on and question her brother and his political allies' actions on the budget, addressing economic problems—particularly on rice, agriculture and fishery and of course on their recent actions against former president Rodrigo Duterte, as well as our international relations with the US and China, warning that all these are depressing the business sector.