Presentation

1. 17th Congress of the
Philippines
Cong. Imelda Marcos

2. Imelda Marcos
• Imelda Romualdez Marcos[4] (locally [ɪˈmelda ˈmaɾkɔs]; born Imelda
Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; 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.[5][6][7] She is the mother of current president Bongbong Marcos.

3. • 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"[9] – a propaganda
practice,[10][11] which eventually came to be known as her "edifice
complex".[9][12] She and her husband stole billions of pesos[13][14] from
the Filipino people,[15][16][17] amassing a personal fortune estimated to
have been worth US$5 billion to US$10 billion by the time they were
deposed in 1986;[18][19][20] by 2018, about $3.6 billion of this had been
recovered by the Philippine government,[21][22] either through
compromise deals or sequestration cases.

4. • Marcos and her family gained notoriety for living a lavish lifestyle during
a period of economic crisis and civil unrest in the country.[7] 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.[24][25][26] The subject of dozens[27] of court cases around the
world,[21] 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.[28][29] She and her husband hold the Guinness World
Record for the "Greatest Robbery of a Government".

5. • The People Power Revolution in February 1986 unseated the
Marcoses and forced the family into exile in Hawaii.[33] In 1991,
President Corazon Aquino allowed the Marcos family to return to the
Philippines to face various charges after the 1989 death of
Ferdinand.[34][35] Imelda Marcos was elected four times to the House of
Representatives of the Philippines,[36] and ran twice for the presidency
of the Philippines but failed to garner enough votes.

6. Early life
• Imelda Remedios Visitación Romuáldez[1] was born at dawn in San
Miguel, Manila, on July 2, 1929.[1] Her parents were Vicente Orestes
Romuáldez, a lawyer, and his second wife, Remedios Trinidad. Imelda
is the sixth of Vicente's eleven children, and Remedios' firstborn.
• Born into the Romualdez political dynasty from the province of Leyte,
Imelda grew up in a wealthy clan of devout Catholics.[38][page needed] She
was baptized in the nearby San Miguel Church on the day after her
birth.

7. • Notable members of Imelda's family include the
clan matriarch Doña Trinidad Lopez de Romualdez; her uncle Norberto
Romualdez, who was a Supreme Court Associate Justice;[39] 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.

8. • Imelda's parents were separated for a time, during which Remedios
worked for the nuns at the Asilo de San Vicente de
Paul.[41][page needed] 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.[41][page needed] In her ten years of marriage, Remedios had
six children – Imelda, Benjamin, Alita, Alfredo, Armando and
Conchita.[42][page needed] Remedios was born & raised
in Baliwag, Bulacan.

9. • In the same year, 1938,[41][page needed] 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 learning the Waray language, and then learned
the Tagalog language and eventually English.

10. Education
• Elementary
• Imelda finished grade one in the nearby College of the Holy Spirit
Manila, where her older half-sisters also studied.
• She continued her early studies at Holy Infant Academy, a convent
school run by 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.

11. High school
• In 1942, the Romualdezes returned to Tacloban, and around that time,
Imelda's father refused to let her go back to school.[44] When the
Americans returned in 1944, she was eager to resume her studies at
Leyte Progressive High School. She finished her first year at the
provincial high school where she was also chosen Miss I-A; then in her
second year, she moved to Holy Infant and stayed there until she
graduated.[45]
• 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.

12. College
• Imelda ran for President of the student council at St. Paul's College
(now named Divine Word University) in 1951, three years before her
marriage to Marcos.[38][page needed] At that time, she was about to
graduate with a degree in Education. She was put up as candidate for
the Department of Education, which had an enrollment of 800 students.
Even during the nomination, her victory was already a foregone
conclusion, but the school authorities insisted that another candidate
be put up to make the elections a democratic procedure. That was how
the College of Law, with 200 students, put up Francisco Pedrosa.

13. • 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.[46] 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.

14. Early career
• Imelda returned to Manila in 1952 under the rule of President Elpidio
Quirino and stayed in the house of her relative, House of
Representatives of the Philippines Speaker Pro tempore Daniel
Romuáldez, who had three adopted children. Imelda's status in the
Romuáldez household during this time has been described as "higher
than servants and lower than family members as a poor relative".
Imelda found work as a salesgirl in a store called P.E. Domingo, which
infuriated her father when he learnt of during one of his visits,
perceiving it as ill treatment of Imelda.

15. • To calm the indignation of Vicente Romuáldez, Eduardo and Daniel
exercised their political and economic influence to find work for Imelda
in 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).