Imelda Marcos — in her own words

By Joseph L. Garcia, Reporter

THEY SAY that a fish is caught by its own mouth. Every moment that Imelda Marcos opens her mouth in The Kingmaker, a documentary about herself by Lauren Greenfield (who also made the documentary The Queen of Versailles), we can frequently catch her saying — well, something.

The film is not only an incisive portrait of a woman who is said to have bled her country dry, but also an exploration of what truth is — or if it still means anything, in the first place. BusinessWorld presents a series of quotes from Mrs. Marcos, as well as the people who have either worked closely with her, or against her. They are all from The Kingmaker.

IMELDA ON THE PHILIPPINES
“When I see Manila, I feel so depressed and sad. This was a little paradise. Before, during my time, there were no beggars. I had a place for them.” — Mrs. Marcos on the congestion of Manila. During her time, Mrs. Marcos ordered the demolition of several slum districts to beautify the city. The situations at these demolitions were hardly ever pretty.

“I miss the clout of being First Lady. Not exactly the palace, because it was not really a very comfortable place to live in.” — Imelda Marcos passing by Malacañang

“My dream for my country is to regain paradise for all.” — Imelda Marcos on her future plans

IMELDA MARCOS ON HER PAST
“I was always looking for someone to love me. This created my character.” — Imelda on her mother’s death

“I was only eight years old when I became an orphan. And when you lose your money — (correcting herself) your mother — you lose everything.” — Imelda during an interview for her birthday

IMELDA AND HER SPENDING AND ILL-GOTTEN WEALTH
“So you see, the shoes became a joke.” — Imelda on her collection of shoes (The media and authorities place the number at 3,000, Mrs. Marcos places it at 1,000. The number is excessive either way).

“And then we’ll have another $100M to play around with.” — archival footage of Imelda being interviewed about her building projects

“I was always criticized for being excessive. But that is mothering. That is the spirit of mothering. You cannot quantify love.” — Imelda on criticism of her

“It saved us later on to pay lawyers, that cost millions.” — Imelda on fleeing the country with her jewelry, later unboxed at the US Customs in Hawaii

“She called me one day when she was staying at the Waldorf in New York. ‘What do you think of the Crown Building?’… She said, ‘I’m gonna buy it.’ And then she bought four more.” — Beth Day-Romulo, journalist and wife of Foreign Secretary Carlos P. Romulo

“I am no longer First Lady. I’m not even allowed to go around the world anymore. They prohibit me. I have money in 170 banks. And deposits of assets. I cannot even have them.” — Imelda on her money; Former PCGG (Philippine Commission on Good Government) Chair Andy Bautista admits later in the film that he did not know about these banks.

“You will see here what we supposedly have stolen. Banks, buildings. A stolen Golden Buddha, which was ridiculous. I did not steal a Golden Buddha.” — Imelda touring the crew around a safehouse filled with, at her count, 350,000 court documents. This also puts to rest an internet legend that the Marcos family got their wealth from the fabled WWII Yamashita treasure.

“This one is of course, a Picasso. Marcos would say, ‘Imelda, I know how to earn money properly. But you know how to spend money properly, because you buy beauty.’” — Imelda on her art purchases. Mr. Bautista would later show photographs that during a raid, Mrs. Marcos hid the paintings and instead displayed personal portraits of her and her husband.

“That alerted the authorities, and they immediately conducted an investigation… we went over to her house and asked her, ‘Mrs. Marcos, we wanted to know whether you are claiming ownership of the painting.’ She replied to me, ‘In case I do say that I own the painting, will it be given back to me?’” — Former PCGG Chair Andy Bautista recalling the sale of a Monet painting in the possession of Vilma Bautista, a former aide of Mrs. Marcos

“So far, we’ve been able to remit back $4 billion. But I also hasten to add that many of these assets have really appreciated in terms of value.” — Mr. Bautista on the amount of ill-gotten wealth the PCGG have managed to recover

IMELDA, THE AQUINOS, AND 1986
“They were saying so, but why will I do that? He was no threat to me. In fact, I knew him before I knew Marcos. Some people say that he was courting me. But I had nothing against him. Except that he talked too much, anyway.

“It’s not in my character to even quarrel with anyone. How much more, kill anyone? God knows I was very kind to him.” — Imelda on assassinated opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr., who was jailed for seven years in the Philippines, before being exiled to the United States, then assassinated upon his return to the Philippines.

“She believed that there was a threat. She was prevailing over my father not to come home. And then… [to] say that ‘I had nothing to do with it.’ (silence). I’m sorry, kind of absurd — the concept.” — Former President Benigno Aquino III

“No less than the son of Cory is president now. Between the mother and the son, you cannot tell who is worse.” — Imelda on the second Aquino administration

“Some people want to say that it’s just a fight between us and the Marcoses. The fight is, there has to be something that is right, and there is something that is wrong.” — Mr. Aquino

“It’s not true that we fled from our country. We were kidnapped. They told us we would go to Paoay, a town in Ilocos. Only to be brought to Hawaii.” — Imelda on her exile

“I remember very well buying the ticket. I said, I can’t come home in coach.” — Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. recalling coming back from exile

IMELDA AND POLITICS
“If I didn’t know what was the problem, I would ask General Mao, ‘What’s your problem?’ It’s the same with Saddam Hussein.”

“He took my hand and kissed it… he said, ‘Mrs. Marcos, you started the end of the Cold War.’ In five minutes! Mao!” — Imelda on her tactics in diplomacy

“I knew he wanted to be president so that he could maximize his wealth and talent.” — Imelda on her husband

IMELDA AND SELF-IMAGE
“’Yung tiyan ko, okay, malaki?” (My stomach, is it OK, is it big?) — Imelda asking an aide before beginning shooting

“Perception is real, and the truth is not.”

“Sometimes it helps that you’re not taken too seriously.” — Imelda Marcos