Senator Imee Marcos has set the record straight on her relationship with her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
During Thursday’s Kapihan sa Senado, Imee rejected the invitation offered to her by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III for her to be part of the opposition given her criticisms of the administration’s policies on several occasions.
“I am a solid administration, there’s no ifs or buts. I’m only here to protect the president and the family name,” she stressed.
“We fought hard and long for this, and we’re deeply invested in making certain that the Marcos administration should work,” she added.
Earlier this week, Pimentel III said he is willing to adopt the older Marcos should she decide to join the opposition.
Pimentel, the other half of the two-member minority bloc in the upper chamber, explained that his invitation, although it was only a “joke,” was still on the table.
Presently, there are only two members of the minority in the Senate: Pimentel and Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros.
Quite normal
But having differing opinions, according to Imee, is quite normal in their family. She noted that their late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., likewise followed this approach.
“In our family, we always have discussions. We have different opinions. When my father was still alive, he was happy if he was being opposed. He was annoyed, but he was happy,” she explained.
“I am not opposing anything. We’re trying to hammer out details. I love my brother and we will never ever separate because of one simple reason: We came from only one tree,” she added.
Imee also noted that her role in her brother’s administration is more of a “shepherd,” stressing that it was needed to “protect” their family name.
“My brother in his SONA gave all the directions. I agree with that… My role now is to focus on agencies and secretaries to find the best ways,” she said.
“I am protecting my brother and most of all our name from any failures and fiascos. We have waited for 36 years, we cannot afford to make any mistakes,” she added.
Sibling relationship
Imee and Bongbong’s relationship has always been the subject of speculation even before the latter ascended to the presidency.
In the January 2022 column of historian Ambeth Ocampo, he noted that Marcos Sr., in his diaries, had “had a soft spot for his eldest daughter, the child most likely to succeed.”
Ocampo said that the Marcos patriarch even “wished” Imee to be a boy.
Despite Imee’s longer years in politics, her younger brother, who shared the name of their father, gave the Marcos family the biggest comeback in the country’s political history by winning the 2022 presidential elections.
Imee, the eldest among the four children of Marcos Sr. and former First Lady Imelda Marcos, had publicly called out certain actions of the president.
Last year, the President’s first action after assuming office was vetoing House Bill No. 7575 or the proposed Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport Act.
Imee, who sponsored the measure before the plenary, expressed her dismay at her brother’s actions and even warned him that it could send a wrong message to foreign investors.
Earlier this year, the lawmaker also figured in a tug-of-war with her brother on their family’s take on the anniversary of the EDSA People Power revolution, the event that sent them into political exile.
The president said he was “one with the nation” in “remembering those times of tribulation and how we came out of them united and stronger as a nation.” He offered the hand of reconciliation to “those with different political persuasions.”
Imee had a different perspective about what she called the “truth” of EDSA.
“For beyond the lesson of people power, or even what others have called mere military adventurism, a power grab, or even the endless clash of elites, to me the truth of EDSA is that we owe millions of Filipinos still living in squalor and insecurity, ignorance and hunger the promise of change,” she said.
Imee also abstained from voting for the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund bill, the brainchild of the President, when the upper chamber was deciding whether to pass or reject the measure.
Less than a month after the Senate approved the measure, the lawmaker admitted that she deliberately skipped voting on the measure as it was “hinog sa pilit” or forced to ripen.
But Imee pointed out that their family is no different from any other household, saying she is sometimes “annoyed” by her brother’s actions.
“We don’t talk frequently. I only see him when we have family affairs or official functions,” she said. “Sometimes, Sandro would approach me. Sometimes, he would send Sandro to tell me something. It is like that. Sometimes, I also get annoyed.”
“It is okay, we are a normal family, but we don’t have a kitchen table these days. We’re also busy. Otherwise, it would have been around my mother’s kitchen table where we [would] argue and discuss and dispute. It’s fun.”