With the kiss of a glass casket containing her dictator husband’s embalmed body, Imelda Marcos relaunched her political career yesterday at the age of 80.
For the irrepressible Marcos, paying loving respect to the controversial former Philippine president delivered a powerful message of family defiance to begin her campaign for a congresional seat.
“He was our best ever president,” Marcos told reporters at the family home in the town of Batac after visiting the mausoleum downstairs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“During his time we had territorial integrity, freedom, justice and human rights. Whatever else people may say those were the best times ever for the Philippines,” she said.
Marcos surprised all political observers in the Philippines when she registered at the final moment to run for her husband’s old seat in national elections that will be held on May 10.
In line with election laws, she had not spoken publicly about her decision to revive her political career until yesterday, the first day that congressional candidates could hit the campaign trail.
Marcos made it clear she wanted to achieve redemption for her husband, who is accused of stealing billions of dollars from state coffers during his 20-year rule, which ended with a “people power” revolution in 1986.
“I did this to ensure and uphold political integrity and the truth,” Marcos said when asked why she had decided to run for congress.
The matriarch is in fact leading her brood into political battle, with daughter Imee running for governor of Ilocos Norte province, which remains a family stronghold, and son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr seeking a senate seat.
It will be the former first lady’s first political outing since losing a presidential bid in 1992.
However, she pointed to her experience as a key member of her husband’s government, both as housing minister and governor of the Manila capital region, as proof she was worthy of public office.
“If we were able to make Metro Manila ... a city for human beings, how much more we can do here with small towns and villages,” she said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS