Senator Imee Marcos has set the record straight regarding her relationship with her younger brother, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
At Thursday’s Kapihan sa Senado, Imee said despite her open criticism of the administration, she has rejected the invitation for her to join the opposition.
“I am solid administration, there’s no ifs or buts. I’m only here to protect the President and the family name,” she said.
She added: “We fought hard and long for this, and we’re deeply invested in making certain that the Marcos administration would work.”
Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said he was willing to take Senator Marcos in should she decide to join the opposition.
Pimentel, the other oppositionist in the Senate along with Sen. Risa Hontiveros, later clarified that his invitation was a “joke,” but that it remained on the table.
‘I love my brother’
Having differing opinions, according to Imee, is quite normal in their family, noting that their late father, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., likewise was not averse to contrary positions.
“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 said.
“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.”
Imee said her role in her brother’s administration was more of a “shepherd,” stressing that role is important to “protect” their family name.
“My brother in his SoNA gave all the directions. I agree with that. Now, what should we do, there should be the ones to provide details. 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 said.
The siblings’ relationship has always been the subject of grapevine talk, even before Marcos Jr. ascended to the presidency.
Historian Ambeth Ocampo had noted that Marcos Sr., in a diary entry, confirmed having a “soft spot for his elder daughter, (as) the child most likely to succeed.”
Ocampo claimed the Marcos patriarch even “wished” that Imee had been a boy.
Despite Imee’s longer years in politics, her younger brother, their father’s namesake, has given them the biggest comeback to the political arena after they were forced out of Malacañang and into exile by the 1986 People Power Revolution.
Logical
Pimentel’s invitation for the elder Marcos sibling to join the opposition did not come out of nowhere.
Senator Marcos, the eldest of 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 act after assuming office was to veto House Bill 7575 or the proposed Bulacan Airport City Special Economic Zone and Freeport Act.
Having sponsored the measure before the plenary, Senator Marcos expressed dismay over her brother’s action and even warned him that it could send a wrong message to foreign investors.
Earlier this year, she found herself opposed to her brother’s take on the EDSA anniversary, the event that not only changed their lives but the course of the country.
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.” Likewise, he offered reconciliation to “those with different political persuasions.”
In contrast, Imee shared her thoughts 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.
“Together, as one nation, let us go forth to transform this poor and unjust country into a Philippines that is, truly and finally, for all Filipinos,” she added.
Likewise, Senator Marcos did not vote on the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund bill, a priority measure of the President.
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 forcibly ripened.
“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 argue and discuss and dispute. It’s fun.”