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Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand Marcos placed the country under martial law in September 1972. She is the mother of current president Bongbong Marcos.
During her husband's 21-year rule, Imelda Marcos ordered the construction of many grandiose architectural projects, using public funds and "in impossibly short order" – a propaganda practice, which eventually came to be known as her "edifice complex". She and her husband Embezzlement billions of Philippine peso from the Filipino people,Manapat, Ricardo (1991) Some Are Smarter than Others: The History of Marcos' Crony Capitalism. Ateneo de Manila University Press. amassing a personal fortune estimated to have been worth to by the time they were deposed in 1986; by 2018, about $3.6 billion of this had been recovered by the Philippine government, either through compromise deals or sequestration cases.
Marcos and her family gained notoriety for living a lavish lifestyle during a period of economic crisis and civil unrest in the country. She spent much of her time abroad on state visits, extravagant parties, and shopping sprees, and spent much of the State's money on her personal art, jewelry and shoe collections – amassing 3,000 pairs of shoes. The subject of dozens of court cases around the world, she was eventually convicted of corruption charges in 2018 for her activities during her term as governor of Metro Manila; the case is under appeal. She and her husband hold the Guinness World Record for the "Greatest Robbery of a Government", putting Suharto of neighboring Indonesia at second.
The People Power Revolution in February 1986 unseated the Marcoses and forced the family into exile in Hawaii. (1995). 9789719167006, Foundation for Worldwide People Power. ISBN 9789719167006 In 1991, President Corazon Aquino allowed the Marcos family to return to the Philippines to face various charges after the 1989 death of Ferdinand. Imelda Marcos was elected four times to the House of Representatives of the Philippines, and ran twice for the presidency of the Philippines but failed to garner enough votes.
Born into the Romualdez political dynasty from the province of Leyte, Imelda grew up in a wealthy clan of devout Catholics. She was baptized in the nearby San Miguel Church on the day after her birth.
Notable members of Imelda's family include the clan Matriarchy Doña Trinidad Lopez de Romualdez; her uncle Norberto Romualdez, who was a Supreme Court Associate Justice; and her younger brother Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez, who served as Governor of Leyte and later as an ambassador under the regime of Imelda's husband, Ferdinand Marcos.
At the time of her birth, the Romualdezes were wealthy. Around 1932, the financial conditions of Imelda's family began to decline.
Imelda's parents were separated for a time, during which Remedios worked for the nuns at the Asilo de San Vicente de Paul. Vicente and Remedios eventually reconciled but to avoid further conflict, she and her children, including Imelda, moved to their house's garage. In 1937, after Conchita's birth, Remedios's health began to fail and she died on April 7, 1938, due to double pneumonia. In her ten years of marriage, Remedios had six children – Imelda, Benjamin, Alita, Alfredo, Armando, and Conchita. Remedios was born and raised in Baliwag, Bulacan.
In November 1938, Imelda's father gave up Manila due to his declining fortunes in his law practice and returned to Tacloban, where he could support his family with a simpler lifestyle. She grew up speaking the Waray language, and then learned the Tagalog language and eventually English.
She continued her early studies at Holy Infant Academy, a convent school run by the Order of Saint Benedict. The old wooden structure of the school still stands today four blocks away from the Romualdez house. At school, Imelda had to face her family's humiliating poverty, and she was frequently among the students who had to apologize for late payments.
Imelda continued her higher studies at Holy Infant Academy from 1938 to 1948, the year she graduated from high school. As a student, her scholastic record shows that she had a general average of 80 percent throughout her primary and high school.
While an undergraduate student, Marcos taught at a local Chinese high school before graduating in 1952. She had won a scholarship to study music at the Philippine Women's University under Adoración Reyes, a close friend of the family. She briefly held a job at a music store but left this for a better one at the Central Bank. After a few lessons, Adoración was convinced that Imelda had talent and persuaded her to enroll at the College of Music and Fine Arts at Philippine Women's University (PWU), under a special arrangement that put her on register while Adoración continued to give her free lessons.
To calm the indignation of Vicente Romuáldez, Eduardo and Daniel exercised their political and economic influence to find work for Imelda at the Central Bank where she worked under Braulio Hipuna, the Chief Clerk of the Intelligence Division.
During this time her cousin Loreto Ramos introduced her to Adoración Reyes, a teacher from the College of Music and Fine Arts of Philippine Women's University (PWU), who gave her vocal lessons and a chance to get a PWU scholarship. She later sang three songs at a performance with her cousin Loreto at Holy Ghost College (now named College of the Holy Spirit Manila).
Imelda also joined the 1953 Miss Manila beauty pageant. The results became controversial, resulting in both Imelda and Miss Norma Jiménez being declared Manila's candidate to the larger Miss Philippines pageant. Both of them eventually lost to Miss Cristina Galang.
During Holy Week of that year, Ferdinand visited Imelda's house, and when Imelda claimed that she planned to spend the holidays in Baguio, Ferdinand and Guevara offered her a ride up to Daniel's family mansion where she planned to stay, while the two booked a room in nearby Pines. For the remainder of that Holy Week, Ferdinand showered Imelda with flowers and gifts and visited her daily, prodding her to sign the marriage license that sealed the agreement. On April 16, 1954, Good Friday, after having been jokingly asked by Guevara if she wanted to be "the First Lady of the Land someday", Imelda finally agreed to sign it. On April 17, 1954, Ferdinand and Imelda were secretly married by a reluctant Francisco Chanco, a judge befriended by Ferdinand who lived in the area. The church wedding followed only after receiving the blessing of Vicente Orestes, Imelda's father, which Ferdinand asked via telegram on Easter Sunday. Their wedding was held on May 1, 1954, at the San Miguel Pro-Cathedral in Manila where Imelda was christened.
The marriage meant that Ferdinand's common-law wife, Carmen Ortega of La Union's Ortega political clan, with whom he had already sired three children, had to be quietly removed from the public eye.
Campaign strategists incorporated Imelda’s public appeal into the overall tone of the Marcos-led Nacionalista campaign, asking Imelda to always appear at her best in public at all times regardless of the type of audience and encouraging her to wear her signature ternos as an integral part of their image strategy.
Marcos heavily relied on Imelda, eventually telling the press at one point that it was Imelda who had delivered the one million vote margin he needed to win the election.
It was in this period that Imelda described herself – a neophyte transitioning into a true political partner to her husband – as "a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon". This led one foreign journalist to call her "the iron butterfly".
Imelda had assumed a managerial position in her husband's campaign early on when Marcos faced his first challenge, which was to win the presidential candidacy for the Nacionalista Party. She enthusiastically ran a detailed campaign, befriending the 1,347 delegates of the Nacionalista Party Convention until Ferdinand Marcos won the party’s presidential nomination on November 21, 1964, for the Nacionalista Party.
McCoy recounts that it was supposedly also Imelda who convinced Fernando Lopez to accept the vice-presidential nomination alongside Marcos. She met Lopez personally, appealing to him by recounting the many struggles she and Ferdinand faced during the campaign. Lopez refused to give in multiple times, until Imelda cried in front of him. When he relented, Imelda proceeded to hand a document to sign, stating that he had accepted the nomination as the Nacionalista vice-presidential candidate.
During the presidential election itself, she delivered votes from the southern province of Leyte and Manila. She was especially popular with the poor. Imelda also used her voice to appeal to voters, singing during campaigns. Her songs were usually varieties of local folk songs.
A year later in March 1966, Marcos established the Cultural Center of the Philippines through Executive Order No. 60 and arranged for Imelda to be elected chairman of the board in a bid to change the perception that she was just another "politician's wife".
The Romualdez clan had been torn apart by the presidential campaign. To fix this, Imelda allegedly sent out invitations to family members, some of whom supported the opposing party, and told them they were all welcome at their house on Ortega Street in San Juan, which was then part of Rizal.
Ferdinand and Imelda held Mass in the courtyard of their house on Ortega Street before proceeding to Rizal Park for the inauguration ceremonies.
At night, a state dinner hosted 60 guests in the reception hall of the Malacañang Palace.
In May 1966, Imelda pushed a twelve million peso plan to pool together the social welfare efforts of several dozen social welfare groups. The plan involved the construction of welfare villages and the reorientation of personnel to staff them. The cornerstone for first village, the Reception and Study Center in Quezon City was laid in 1966, and several more were built from then until 1968: Marilla Hills in Alabang, the Children's Orphanage in Pasay, the Molave Village in Tanay, Rizal, a Home for the Aged in Quezon City, and the Philippine Village at Manila International Airport.
In mid-1967, Imelda started the "Share for Progress" Seed Dispersal Program a project that suggested making vegetable gardens out of idle lots all over the country. By 1968, 309,392 kits containing seeds had been distributed in over 1500 towns.
Upon becoming First Lady, Imelda often asked members of the Blue Ladies to accompany her on her trips out of the country. One of her most famous socialite friends was Cristina Ford.
Imelda's Blue Ladies—specifically Maria Luisa, a daughter of the rich Madrigal family and the wife of Daniel Vazquez—contributed to the fashion spending of Imelda. In 1968, Maria Luisa accompanied Imelda on an overseas trip, during which Imelda and daughter Imee spent $3.3 million. At this time Vazquez and Maria Luisa opened a Citibank account. In November 1968, the couple added "Fernanda Vazquez" as a joint holder of the bank account. An allegation that Imelda and Fernanda Vazquez are one and the same is validated by the notations for the bank account that had Imelda Marcos's handwriting.
Members of the Marcos Cabinet such as Cesar Virata and Gerardo Sicat recount that Imelda used the humiliation of the Dovie Beams affair as leverage to begin developing an independent political agenda which gave her more and more political power. Initially, this meant that Imelda had free rein on her projects while her husband prepared for the 1969 presidential campaign, but as Marcos's health declined, it involved her being put in increasingly powerful positions, including those of Minister of Human Settlements and of Governor of Metro Manila.
When the Marcoses went to the United States in September 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson offered Imelda the Philippine war damage claims totaling . President Johnson agreed to have be used as funds for the Cultural Center, one of Imelda's projects.
For the inauguration of the CCP, a gala opening of the Golden Salakot, a pageant-drama of a story about the prehistory of the Philippines, occurred on September 8, 1969. US President Richard Nixon was invited but instead California Governor (and future President) Ronald Reagan, along with his wife, flew to the country on Air Force One for the event. There were accounts that the First Lady attempted to bring other celebrities in by getting them tickets to ride Air Force One, but she was denied this luxury by President Nixon. Accounts have also mentioned that this trip by the then-Governor Reagan and his wife led to the closeness of the Reagans and Marcoses.
In 1971, Imelda attended Iran's 2,500-year celebration of the Persian Empire of the founding of the Persian Empire. This trip, according to palace insiders, provided her with a social introduction to some of the world's wealthiest people.
In the stress following the accusations and media circus, Imelda claimed to have suffered a miscarriage. Later, this was revealed to be a hoax to avoid Quintero's charges. According to Ellison, this was "an eloquent example of the lengths to which Imelda would go to support Ferdinand and her ambition".
On the eve of September 5, 1972, tourism minister Manuel Elizalde called each member of Manila's foreign press corps to a party. Imelda arrived at the party, allegedly rambling about democracy and how only the Americans could afford it. 18 days later, Martial Law was announced. Ferdinand stated the purpose of the Martial Law was to create a "New Society" with reformed institutions, no inequalities, corruption, or crime. Imelda called it "martial law with a smile". Days after the announcement, a warrant of arrest was issued for Amelita Cruz, author of the "you-know-who" columns on Imelda. Cruz was told that the orders "came directly from the music room", Imelda's palace study.
In 1972, she took control of the distribution of a bread ration called Nutribun, which actually came from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Masagana 99, Nutribun, and Imelda's 'edifice complex' of hospitals . GMA News. September 20, 2012. Nutrition and Related Services Provided to the Republic of the Philippines . Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. September 1979.
Marcos was immediately flown by helicopter to the Makati Medical Center, with her husband immediately driving to the hospital upon hearing the news while playing golf at Malacañang Park's Pangarap golf course.
In 1975, after the assassination of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Marcos wanted to extend the official condolences. Women were not welcome in the Saudi court, but Imelda, through her connection to the surgeon who previously performed a heart surgery on the new king, managed to be the first woman guest to be honored.
In 1978, she was also appointed as Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary, allowing her to tour the United States, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Cuba. Throughout her travels, she became friends with Richard Nixon, Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and Josip Broz Tito. She traveled to Iraq to secure oil and to Libya for a peace treaty with the Moro National Liberation Front.
Six months after martial law was lifted on January 17, 1981, Ferdinand Marcos was re-elected as president. While her husband began to suffer from lupus erythematosus, Imelda effectively ruled in his place.
Imelda claimed that during her last meeting with Aquino on May 21, 1983, in New York, she "begged him for 3½ hours to postpone his return to the Philippines until it was safe for him to come". Aquino returned to the Philippines on August 21, 1983, and was assassinated at Manila International Airport upon his arrival." Filipino Women Protest Mrs. Marcos' Extravagance ." Telegraph Herald. October 28, 1983. Feeling that he was pressured into causing an investigation of the assassination, Ferdinand created the Agrava Commission, a fact-finding committee, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Aquino Jr., ultimately finding the military guilty.
On February 25, Ferdinand Marcos, with his wife Imelda by his side, held the inauguration at Malacañang Palace. The couple later emerged on the Palace balcony in front of a loyalist crowd and Imelda sang a song for the crowd.
Later that day, Ferdinand Marcos finally agreed to step down and was given safe passage for him and his entire family to flee to Hawaii, United States.
The US Government initially hosted the exiles at Hickam Air Force Base. Ferdinand and Imelda moved into a pair of residences in Makiki Heights, Honolulu, a month later.
Ferdinand Marcos eventually died in exile in September 1989. His son Bongbong was the only family member present at his deathbed.
After Imelda left Malacañang Palace, press reports worldwide took note of her lavish wardrobe, said to include 15 mink coats, 508 gowns, 888 handbags, and 3,000 pairs of shoes. Some news reports estimated that there were up to 7,500 pairs, but Time magazine reported that the final tally was 1,060. The US government documented that the Marcos family entered the United States with millions of dollars in cash, stocks, jewelry, and gold kilobars inscribed "To my husband on our 24th anniversary".
After her return from exile, Imelda returned to politics.
In 1992, Imelda ran for president in the 1992 Philippine presidential election, finishing 5th out of 7 candidates.
She was elected as a congresswoman of Leyte during the 1995 Philippine general election, representing the first district, despite facing a disqualification lawsuit in which the Supreme Court ruled in her favor.
She chose not to seek re-election in Congress and instead sought the presidency again in the 1998 Philippine presidential election, but later withdrew to support the eventual winner Joseph Estrada, while she finished 9th among 11 candidates." Faces of the week ." BBC News. November 10, 2006. Imelda's crown jewels to go under the hammer BBC News, May 13, 2003 She considered running for mayor of Manila in the 2001 Philippine general election but did not push through with it.
In November 2006, Marcos started her own business, a fashion label "Imelda Collection" including jewelry, clothing and shoes with the help of her daughter Imee. Imelda Marcos comes into fashion . BBC. November 7, 2006.
Imelda ran for the second district of Ilocos Norte in the 2010 Philippine House of Representatives elections to replace her son," Imelda Marcos bids for seat as Philippine race begins ." BBC News. March 26, 2010. Ferdinand Jr. (Bongbong), who ran for senator under the Nacionalista Party. An audience with the one and only Imelda Marcos . BBC. May 27, 2010. During her term, she held the position of Millennium Development Goals committee chair in the Lower House. Imelda Marcos stays as MDG committee chair . ABS-CBN News. September 15, 2010. Unthinkable: Guess who came to Enrile book launch . Philippine Daily Inquirer. September 29, 2012.
She was re-elected on May 14, 2013, Imelda seeks second term, files COC . ABS-CBN News. October 3, 2012. and on May 9, 2016, for a third and final term.
In October 2018, Marcos filed her certificate of candidacy to run for governor of Ilocos Norte in the 2019 Philippine general election to replace her daughter, Imee, who was term-limited and chose to run for senator. However, following her conviction of graft, she withdrew from the race a month later and was substituted by her grandson Matthew Manotoc, initially her running mate for vice governor. Manotoc eventually won the gubernatorial race.
Marcos underwent a successful angioplasty at St. Luke's Medical Center – Global City, Taguig on May 7, 2023. She was hospitalized in March 2024 after contracting a suspected case of pneumonia.
In 1993, Marcos was convicted on a graft case. This was overturned by the Appellate Court in 2008, Sandigan OKs Imelda bid for daily hearings on graft cases . GMA News. September 21, 2007. Imelda Marcos innocent of dollar salting . United Press International. May 10, 2008. and the reversal was upheld by the Philippine Supreme Court in 2018 because of technical issues with the evidence.
In March 2008, a judge in Manila acquitted her of 32 counts of illegal transfers of funds to Swiss bank accounts between 1968 and 1976, determining that the government had failed to prove its case. Imelda Marcos Acquitted, Again . The New York Times. March 11, 2008.
In 2011, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division ordered her to return in government funds taken by her and her husband from the National Food Authority. Unthinkable: State lawyers want to know where Marcos funds went Philippine Daily Inquirer. August 29, 2012. On November 9, 2018, the Sandiganbayan convicted Marcos on seven counts of graft and corruption, which disqualified Marcos from holding any public office.
In October 2015, Imelda Marcos still faced 10 criminal charges of graft and 25 civil cases in the Philippines.
Twenty-seven years later, on November 9, 2018, she was convicted on seven counts of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for funneling roughly to various Swiss foundations while she was still serving as governor of Metro Manila in the 1970s. That same day, the court announced her acquittal on the three remaining counts, but since she failed to appear, the court also ordered the forfeiture of the earlier bond that she had posted in 1991.
She was sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to eleven years for each count – totalling a minimum of 42 years and 7 months, and a maximum of 77 years. The Sandiganbayan also disqualified Marcos, a representative for the first district of Ilocos Norte and a candidate for governor of the same province, from holding any public office. The sanction will not go into immediate effect, pending an appeal by her, but she nonetheless withdrew her candidacy for the governorship.
On November 12, 2018, Marcos's attorney filed a "Motion for Leave of Court to Avail of Post-Conviction Remedies", which included a provision for bail. The court granted bail due to her "ill health", but reserved ruling on the balance of the requests until November 28. Marcos posted bail on November 16, 2018, a week after her conviction. She intends to appeal her conviction. The normal form of appeal is a motion for reconsideration to the Sandiganbayan; she further requested a direct appeal to the Philippine Supreme Court, which was originally denied as premature, then granted on November 28.
Estimates of this ill-gotten wealth vary, with sources estimating a figure of about to for wealth acquired in the last years of the Marcos administration. The Daily Telegraph estimates her current net worth at a more modest $22M (the amount declared by Imelda Marcos in 2012), but states that it is likely that she and her husband stole billions of Philippine peso while in power, and that the amount they stole could have paid off the entirety of the Philippine foreign debt.
In a 1985 report to the United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs, US Ambassador to the Philippines Stephen Bosworth estimated that the Marcoses had stolen an accumulated wealth of "in recent years", in the context of the rapid decline of the Philippine economy in the early 1980s. The same figure was cited by the Philippines' Office of the Solicitor General soon after Marcos was deposed by the EDSA Revolution in 1986. Bosworth's source, Dr. Bernardo Villegas of the Philippine think tank the Center for Research and Communication (CRC), noted that the figure ultimately cited by Bosworth was a conservative estimate, and that the amount probably came closer to $13 billion.
The PCGG's first chairperson, Jovito Salonga, later said that he estimated the figure to be to , based on the documentary trail left behind by the Marcoses in 1986. Internationally, Salonga's estimate has become the popularly cited estimate of the Marcoses' unexplained wealth. Dr. Jesus Estanislao, another noted economist from the CRC, said this figure reflected amounts taken out of the country in the years immediately prior to the ouster of the Marcos administration, and that there was no way to accurately estimate the wealth acquired by the Marcoses since the 1950s. He suggested that the figure could be as much as $30 billion.
Aside from the Marcoses' amassed wealth, Imelda Marcos was famous for spending it, with some accounts calling her "the ultimate personification of conspicuous consumption". On one occasion, Imelda spent $2,000 on chewing gum at the San Francisco International Airport and, on another, forced a plane to do a U-turn mid-air because she had forgotten to buy cheese in Rome. A portion of her famous shoe collection Homage to Imelda's shoes . BBC News. February 16, 2001. is now kept in the National Museum of the Philippines, while another is displayed in a shoe museum in Marikina. Manila: 10 Things to Do 7. Marikina Shoe Museum Time magazine. January 21, 2010. Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) damaged her ancestral home in Tacloban, which also serves as a museum, Yolanda destroys Imelda's ancestral house in Leyte . GMA News. November 19, 2013. although she still retains homes in Ilocos Norte and Makati, where she resides.
In March 1968, Ferdinand and Imelda opened four accounts, under the names of William Saunders and Jane Ryan, with Credit Suisse in Zürich, "Some Are Smarter Than Others & The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders: Pio Abad's exploration of the Marcos horde" , The Philippine Star. September 18, 2014. Witness Say Imelda Marcos Used Pseudonym to Open Account , The Daily News, April 19, 1990—Marcos using the alias "William Saunders" and Imelda using the alias "Jane Ryan". These were later moved into other accounts under various dummy foundations, but when relevant records were discovered by the new Philippine government after the 1986 EDSA revolution, the Swiss Federal council froze them.
Throughout the 1980s, Imelda Marcos bought four prominent buildings in Manhattan. These were the Crown Building at the corner of 57th and Fifth; 40 Wall Street, later renamed the Trump building; the Herald Center;" Manila After Marcos: Managing a Frail economy; Marcos Mansion Suggests Luxury ". The New York Times. February 28, 1986. and the building at 200 Madison Avenue. She declined to buy the Empire State Building because she felt it was "too ostentatious".
On January 13, 2014, three collections of Imelda Marcos's jewelry: Imelda loses jewels in the Marcos crown . The Age. September 17, 2005. the Malacanang collection, the Roumeliotes collection, and the Hawaii collection; along with paintings by Claude Monet were seized by the Philippine government. Show me the Monet: Philippines seeks return of Marcos paintings . Reuters. January 14, 2014 Philippines Seeks Return of Marcos Paintings . Voice of America. January 14, 2014. In 2015, a rare pink diamond worth $5 million was discovered in her jewelry collection. The value of the three collections was appraised to be at about $21 million on February 16, 2016, when the government of the Philippines announced their intention to auction them off. They had not been sold as of April 17, 2020.
Her property also used to include a 175-piece art collection, Marcoses' Silver Sets Record At Auction . The New York Times. January 11, 1991. which included works by Michelangelo, Botticelli, Canaletto, Raphael, Marcoses' Raphael Sold To Italy for $1.65 Million . The New York Times. January 12, 1991. as well as Monet's L'Église et La Seine à Vétheuil (1881), Alfred Sisley Langland Bay (1887), and Albert Marquet Le Cyprès de Djenan Sidi Said (1946). Shoes, jewels, and Monets: recovering the ill-gotten wealth of Imelda Marcos . Foreign Policy. January 16, 2014. On October 17, 2013, the attempted sale of two Claude Monet paintings," Imelda Marcos's Ex-Aide Charged in '80s Art Theft ." The New York Times. November 20, 2012. L'Eglise de Vetheuil and Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas, became the subject of a legal case in New York against Vilma Bautista, a one-time aide to Imelda Marcos. Ex-Imelda Marcos aide on trial in NYC for selling Monet work . Philippine Daily Inquirer. October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2013. PCGG: Gov't, not Marcos victims, owns Monet painting Philippine Daily Inquirer. July 21, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2013. Bautista was sentenced in 2014 to 2–6 years in prison for attempting to sell "valuable masterpieces that belonged to her country". Ex-Imelda Marcos secretary to be sentenced by NY court . GMA News. January 6, 2014. Marcos jewels could be sold after court rules they were 'ill-gotten' . Japan Times. January 14, 2014.
All told, about P170 billion worth of the Marcos wealth had been recovered by the PCGG by 2018 from the Marcoses – about $3.6 billion out of their $5 billion–to–10 billion estimated ill-gotten wealth.
But Marcos has also said in interviews that "If you know how rich you are, you are not rich. But me, I am not aware of the extent of my wealth. That's how rich we are."
In 1966, Ferdinand Marcos issued Executive Order No. 60, establishing the Cultural Center of the Philippines and appointing its board of directors. The board elected Imelda as their chairperson, giving her the legal mandate to negotiate and manage funds for the center.
The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Complex is considered the premier symbol of Imelda's edifice complex. It was designed by architect Leandro Locsin and was built on a reclaimed land along Roxas Boulevard in Manila and covered an area of about . Ninety thousand pesos was granted by the Philippine-American Culture Foundation for its construction and was aided with funds from the Cultural Development Fund and the Special Fund for Education. Upon completion, it amounted to —a 50 000% increase from the original budget. Although it is notable that prices of the construction materials such as cement, steel, and tiles increased by 30% to 40% within this time frame, the escalation in the increase of the expenditures are highly questionable. Imelda called the CCP Complex the "sanctuary of the Filipino soul," as it became the locus of all state-initiated cultural productions.
Another construction project linked with Imelda during her husband's first term as President is the San Juanico Bridge, which links the island of Samar to Imelda's home province, Leyte. Although it wasn't initiated by Imelda herself, it was promoted by the administration as Ferdinand Marcos's gift to his wife. It was funded with foreign loans of (about ), from Japan's Overseas Technical Cooperation Agency (OTCA), the predecessor of today's Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Upon its completion on July 2, 1973, Imelda's birthday, economists and public works engineers quickly tagged it as a white elephant which was " constructed several decades too soon," because its average daily traffic (ADT) was too low to justify the cost of its construction.
This led to the coining of the Philippine English adjective "Imeldific", to describe
It also refers to people who have "the Imelda Marcos syndrome" – tending to be extravagant and not being afraid to flaunt it, or to describe a lifestyle of "ostentatious extravagance".
It has also come to be used in International English, with dictionary writer and the Atlantic columnist Anne Soukhanov expounding on the "ostentatious extravagance" etymology. In popular international media, the Sydney Morning Herald's Jackie Dent said it simply "means to be ... well, like Imelda".
The coining of the term is often attributed to Imelda Marcos, although it was used by People Magazine's Carlos Lopez as early as April 1986, when he said:
Imelda made a conscious effort to portray herself as a patron of the arts, including those who specialize in Filipino haute couture such as Pitoy Moreno and Inno Sotto.
In a section of the 2003 Ramona Diaz film named after her, Imelda says that she maintains her extravagant clothing because it "inspired the poor to dress better".
In the late 1990s, Imelda Marcos agreed to be the subject of a television documentary episode for PBS's Independent Lens, simply titled Imelda, by
The villain character "Madame" in the popular Filipino comics series Trese is known for being a visual reference to Marcos, with her coiffed hair, butterfly sleeves, and deep connections to the powerful figures of the Trese universe.
The second track of Mark Knopfler's 1996 album Golden Heart is a sardonic song about her. Golden Heart . Warner Music Group. March 26, 1996. In 2010, British producer Fatboy Slim and musician David Byrne released a concept album about her life called Here Lies Love, The Imelda Marcos Story — As Told by David Byrne Time magazine. April 10, 2010. which later became a rock musical of the same name.Brantley, Ben. "A Rise to Power, Disco Round Included" , The New York Times, April 23, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2016
In Manila, local performance artist Carlos Celdran became known for his Living La Vida Imelda walking tour, which was also performed in Dubai in 2012. Filipino-American drag artist Manila Luzon impersonated Mrs. Marcos in the "Snatch Game" challenge in the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race, deriving humor from the First Lady's renowned obsession with shoes. Hawaiian comedian Frank De Lima has impersonated her on various occasions.
In an episode of Saturday Night Live (aired October 8, 1988), she was portrayed by comedienne Nora Dunn during the segment Weekend Update. She was also portrayed by Clavel Bendaña on the 2003 film Chavit (film).
She is also portrayed by actress Dimples Romana Marcos on the Maalaala Mo Kaya episode entitled Makinilya, the second of the two-part "The Ninoy & Cory Aquino Story" aired on ABS-CBN in 2010. Actress Ruffa Gutierrez also portrayed her in the 2022 film Maid in Malacañang and its sequel, the 2023 film Martyr or Murderer; actress Cindy Miranda portrays the young Marcos in the latter.
She is frequently mentioned in Netflix shows like Russian Doll (episode: "Coney Island Baby"), The Crown (episode: "Fairytale") and Dynasty (episode: "A Litte Father-Daughter Chat").
An original musical, Here Lies Love by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, spans her life from childhood to exile and utilizes largely disco and club music and innovative immersive staging. The title is a direct reference to a phrase Imelda mentioned she wanted written on her tombstone. Originally conceived as a song cycle, it was presented in concert (Adelaide 2006, Carnegie Hall 2007) format and presented at Mass MoCA (2012) and Off-Broadway (2013, 2014–15) at the Public Theatre. The Broadway theatre transfer began previews at the Broadway Theatre on June 17, 2023, with opening night on July 20, 2023 and closed on November 26 of that year.
2018 Swiss foundation cases convictions
In 1991, Marcos was indicted on ten corruption charges in the Philippines' anti-graft court, the Sandiganbayan.
Personal wealth
Court rulings and estimated amount
The Philippine Supreme Court considers the unexplained wealth of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos to be "ill-gotten" based on the definitions set forth in Republic Act 1379, which was passed in 1955. The Supreme Court's interpretation of R.A. 1379 says that property acquired by a public officer or employee which is "manifestly out of proportion to his salary as such public officer and to his other lawful income" is "presumed prima facie to have been unlawfully acquired". The bulk of the assets of the Marcoses, including the Marcos jewels, were treated as unlawful in a 2012 decision which specified that "according to the Official Report of the Minister of Budget, the total salaries of former President Marcos as President from 1966 to 1976 was ₱60,000 a year and from 1977 to 1985, ₱100,000 a year; while that of the former First Lady, Imelda R. Marcos, as Minister of Human Settlements from June 1976 to February 22–25, 1986 was ₱75,000 a year" – about $304,372.43.
(2020). 9783110862928, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2020. ISBN 9783110862928
Sequestration
Some of this wealth has been recovered as the result of various court cases – and has either been returned to the Philippine government, or awarded as reparations to the victims of human rights abuses under Marcos's presidency. Some of it has also been recovered by the Philippine government through settlements and compromise deals, either with Imelda or cronies who say that certain properties had been entrusted to them by the Marcoses. Some of the recovery cases have been dismissed by the courts for reasons such as improper case filing procedures and technical issues with documentary evidence. An amount of unidentified proportions has yet to be recovered, as the full extent of the family's wealth remains unknown.
Salonga, Jovito (2025). 9789718567289, U.P. Center for Leadership, Citizenship and Democracy. ISBN 9789718567289 On December 21, 1990, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled that these accounts could be turned over to the Philippine government, on the condition that there be a concurring "final and absolute judgment" by a Philippine court. The Political Economy of Corruption . University of Hawaii. July 1997. In 1997, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court established the funds to have been "of criminal provenance" and permitted their transfer to an escrow account in Manila, pending a ruling from a Philippine court which came in the form a confiscation ruling by the Philippine Supreme court on July 15, 2003. Switzerland finally released a total of $683 million in Marcos funds to the Philippines Treasury in 2004.
Net worth in 2012
In 2012, Imelda Marcos declared her net worth to be and was likewise listed as the second-richest Filipino politician behind boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao. Imelda Marcos claims net worth of US$22 million . Taipei Times. May 6, 2012. Imelda camp mum on Newsweek's 'greediest' tag . GMA News. April 6, 2009. What happened to the Marcos fortune? . BBC News. January 24, 2013. She has claimed without evidence that her fortune came from Ferdinand Marcos's discovery of Yamashita's gold, a semi-mythical treasure trove that is widely believed in the Philippines to be part of the Japanese loot in World War II. Marcos widow claims wealth due to 'Yamashita treasure' . The Bulletin. February 3, 1993. "On Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari To The United States Court Of Appeals For The Ninth Circuit: Petition For A Writ Of Certiorari." . Retrieved June 12, 2016.
(2013). 9780199674701, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199674701
World record for largest theft from a government
The amount the Marcoses were estimated to have plundered from the Philippines is so large that it has been the subject of world records. Imelda Marcos, together with her husband Ferdinand (who is considered by many to be one of the greatest plunderers in history according to the Washington Post), were jointly credited in 1989 by Guinness World Records with the largest-ever theft from a government: an estimated 5 billion to 10 billion dollars salted away. She is quoted as having stated: "We practically own everything in the Philippines, from electricity, telecommunications, airlines, banking, beer and tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations, shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to coconut milling, small farms, real estate and insurance." In 2009, Imelda Marcos was listed by Newsweek as being one of the "greediest people of all time". To this, Marcos replied: "I plead guilty. For me, greedy is giving. I was first lady for 20 years, you have to be greedy first to give to all. It is natural. The only things we keep in life are those we give away."
Edifice complex
The term "edifice complex" has been applied to Imelda and her penchant for grandiose public buildings, often constructed in impossibly short order. Imelda's building projects were often of the Brutalist architectural style characterized by fortress-like, massive shapes intended to effect a sense of grandiosity.
Cultural influence
"Imeldific"
In the late 1980s, the revelation that Imelda Marcos had "amassed a huge collection of art, jewellery, property and – most famously – at least 1,000 pairs of shoes", had turned her into a household name, frequently compared to Marie Antoinette of France, except "with shoes".
Fashion
Marcos influenced fashion in the Philippines, although her role as a patroness of the arts and fashion is still controversial. The day I met Imelda Marcos . BBC News. October 31, 2000." The Life of Imelda Marcos, in PowerPoint and Plastic ." The New York Times. March 21, 2006. For instance, she actively promoted the terno, which also became her sartorial symbol, through projects such as "Bagong Anyo" and exhibitions abroad such as the Philippine contribution to the Expo '75 in Okinawa Japan. (2025). 9788776940157, NIAS Press. ISBN 9788776940157
Portrayals in news and art
In August 2019, writer/director Lauren Greenfield debuted her documentary film The Kingmaker at the 76th Venice Film Festival, after which it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the London Film Festival, the first documentary to ever debut at all four festivals in the same year. The documentary features the political career of Imelda Marcos with a focus on the Marcos family's efforts to rehabilitate the family's image and to return to political power – including her plans to see her son Bongbong become Vice President of the Philippines. It has a 97% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a 76/100 from Metacritic. The Kingmaker . Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on May 25, 2020. The Kingmaker . Metacritic. Retrieved on May 25, 2020.
"Imelda" for PBS/Independent Lens, Season 6, Episode 22
Honors
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Categories: 1929 Births, Living People, Beauty Queen-politicians, Filipino Diplomats, Filipino Anti-communists, Candidates In The 1992 Philippine Presidential Election, Chairpersons Of The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Filipino Beauty Pageant Winners, Filipino Fashion Designers, Filipino Female Models, Filipino People Of Spanish Descent, Filipino Politicians Convicted Of Crimes, Filipino Politicians Convicted Of Corruption, 20th-century Criminals, 21st-century Criminals, Filipino Roman Catholics, First Ladies And Gentlemen Of The Philippines, Governors Of Metro Manila, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan Politicians, Ferdinand Marcos Administration Cabinet Members, Marcos Family, Filipino Exiles, Filipino Expatriates In The United States, Thieves, Members Of The Batasang Pambansa, People From Batac, People From Tacloban, People Of The People Power Revolution, Imelda, Shoes In Politics, Spouses Of Presidents Of The Philippines, Visayan People, Waray People, Filipino Women Fashion Designers, Women Members Of The House Of Representatives Of The Philippines, Women Members Of The Cabinet Of The Philippines, First Women Governors, Recipients Of The Grand Order Of Mugunghwa, Grand Cordons Of The Order Of The Precious Crown
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