3 family wins signal Marcos revival in Philippines (Imelda, children win Congress & Governorship)

Associated Press ^ | 05/12/2010 | TERESA CEROJANO

[SeekAndFind]

Nearly a quarter-century after Imelda Marcos and her dictator husband fled the Philippines in disgrace — leaving a debt-ridden country but a lavish collection of shoes — the 80-year-old former first lady and two of their children are poised to revive the family's political fortunes.

At first sight, the outcome is surprising in an election that also looks set to award the son of the Marcoses' nemesis, "people power" President Corazon Aquino, the country's top office. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III campaigned heavily against corruption — endemic in the Philippines and allegedly practiced by the Marcos dictatorship on a massive scale.

But their family name still holds clout.

Imelda Marcos won a seat in the House of Representatives, where she also was elected in 1995, and her eldest daughter, Imee, also a former member of Congress, was elected governor in the family's northern bailiwick, Ilocos Norte province. Her son, former governor and current Congress member Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., likely won his Senate race, according to almost-complete results of Monday's vote.

With Marcos Jr.'s rise to the Senate, the Marcoses would claim their highest nationally elected post since their patriarch was ousted in a 1986 "people power" revolt.

"I thank the Lord, the Ilocanos, the Filipino people for the overwhelming mandate for the Marcoses in spite of all the odds," Imelda Marcos told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday. "The Filipino people can be assured of our selfless and endless service and love to all."

Marcos is forever remembered for her collection of eye-popping diamonds and 1,220 pairs of shoes discovered in the abandoned presidential palace after Ferdinand Marcos and his family were sent into U.S. exile, ending his 20-year dictatorship and leaving the country's economy faltering under huge debts.

[SeekAndFind]

The Marcoses and the Aquinos are the most prominent of the Philippines’ wealthy political dynasties and are inextricably linked.

A court found that Aquino’s father, an opposition leader, was assassinated in a military conspiracy during Marcos’ rule. Aquino’s mother then led the mass protests that swept away the strongman and restored democracy. Only after his mother died last year of cancer did Aquino, a quiet senator and former House member, decide to seek the presidency.

If Aquino wins, “I will pray for his success because his success will be for our country and the Filipino people,” Imelda Marcos said.

She said she hoped Aquino will be successful in fulfilling his campaign promise to fight corruption, while she rejected as “lies” allegations that her husband engaged in massive kleptocracy, graft and human rights abuses.

“The Filipino people have not forgotten because even in this campaign they continuously resuscitate the lies about the Marcoses and they keep repeating that, but the Filipino people are getting to know more and more the truth,” Marcos said.

Her husband and his associates allegedly amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth while he was in power. The Presidential Commission on Good Government, created to recover the money, has found cash and assets totaling 85.1 billion pesos (around $1.9 billion).

Aquino, in an interview with AP last week, said as president he would set up a body to determine whether Marcos, a World War II soldier, should be given a hero’s burial as the Marcos family has been demanding.

He also said he wants a truth commission formed to bring closure to questions about his father’s assassination, including alleged links to Marcos.

Political analyst Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, said Imelda and Imee’s victories were expected since they ran in their stronghold — known as the “solid north” for voters’ loyalty to the Marcos family.

But he said many overlooked Ferdinand Jr.’s bid for the Senate as they focused on the presidential race and in the absence of a concerted opposition effort against him. Two leftist politicians who were among Marcos’ noisiest critics ran alongside him in the same party, Casiple added.

“Many of the electorate were young. So the main factor was name recall and who would not know a Marcos,” Casiple said.

[GeronL]

What the heck are those people thinking?

[fish hawk]

It was a shoe-in!

[vladimir998]

Imelda isn’t measuring the drapes. She’s just trying to figure out how many shoes she can cram in there.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: What the heck are those people thinking?

Same thing those who voted for Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua were thinking.

You gotta remember, Imelda represents her Congressional district ( her hometown ), Leyte. Even if she is unpopular in the rest of the country, and the case against her is still going on, and she is 80 years old, her home district ALWAYS votes for her.

Same thing applies to her daughter, who ran as governor in her father’s home province of Ilocos, where Marcos is considered the native so.

Hey, it’s the same here in the USA. People like Charlie Rangel and Nancy Pelosi have their seats for LIFE. I’m willing to bet that Rangel ( even with his tax problems ) will win his seat in the next election. Heck, even if Pelosi were seen to be murdering someone in broad daylight, she’s still win her seat.

[fish hawk]

Probably the same things Obama voters are thinking, or rather not thinking.

[montanajoe]

“What the heck are those people thinking?”

The vast majority of the people in the Philippines don't think about politics as who is in power is totally irrelevant to their daily lives. Their votes mean nothing and will change nothing in the country.

In this case many received a few kilos of rice to secure their vote.

[SeekAndFind]

CORRECTION TO : “where Marcos is considered the native so.”

so = son.

[GeronL]

rotten boroughs

[AlexW]

“What the heck are those people thinking?”

I know next to nothing about politics here, but Aquino is popular.
Most everyone I know voted for him.
He won with over 14 million votes.
The second place had under 10 million.
At least it is not as bad as in the USA, where the idiots choose Marxism.

[SeekAndFind]

Aquino ran on a platform of anti-corruption. His most popular ad showed a beautiful house on the outside rotting on the inside and he used that as an analogy to show how corruption is rotting the core of the country.

The previous president ( who thankfully is term-limited ) Gloria Arroyo is considered a corrupt under-the-table dealer and her own husband is known as Mr. Ten Percent.

My only concern is Aquino has very little executive experience and his 2 terms as congressman and one term as senator showed very little legislative output.

He’s not very comfortable wheeling and dealing with the opposition. I highly doubt whether he will be able to deliver on his promises.

[vladimir998]

Why are you sending that to me????

[SeekAndFind]

Sorry, fat fingers, typing mistake. I apologize.

[yarddog]

I am not familiar with Philippine politics however one of my best friends and his fiance, now his wife, met Imelda at a restaurant in Manila.

They spoke to her and she was very friendly. She even posed for a photograph with them. I have seen the picture.

[GeronL]

bump

[RichInOC]

Gotta be the shoes…

[vladimir998]

Well, at least the DOW didn’t plunge a thousand points or something.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Well, at least the DOW didn’t plunge a thousand points or something.

Actually, the Markets around Asia seem to like this news

---

Philippines rallies round Aquino

Published: May 11 2010 22:45 | Last updated: May 11 2010 22:45

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e610add8-5d2b-11df-8373-00144feab49a.html

Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, scion of the Philippines’ most famous political family, is set to become 15th president of the Philippines. The voters of this chronically underperforming Asian archipelago swept him to power on a wave of sentimentality following the death last August of his mother, Corazon Aquino, who also reached office on a tide of emotion after the assassination of her husband, Noynoy’s father. Ultimately, she did little to break the corrosive grip on power of the oligarchy of which she was herself a member. Noynoy must do better.

First, he must make good his electoral pledge to stamp out corruption. Transparency International rates the Philippines worse than Liberia or Pakistan. Such a sense of all-pervasive moral bankruptcy not only corrodes people’s sense of purpose in this 90m-strong nation, it also deprives the state coffers of billions of dollars in lost taxes.

That is just one of the six impossible things Mr Aquino must do before breakfast if the Philippines is to recapture anything like the potential it once seemed to hold when it was (unbelievable as it now seems) bracketed with Japan. Five other tasks include ending a long-running Moslem insurgency in the south; creating a business environment that can employ some of the 8m talented Filipinos forced to find gainful employment abroad; breaking up business cartels; delivering workable land reform; and rebuilding the credibility of institutions, such as the Supreme Court, eroded after years of government co-option.

This will be no easy task, to put it mildly. It is not even clear whether Mr Aquino has such ambitions, let alone whether he can carry them out within a fractious political system. But not all is hopeless. First, the Philippines’ economic performance, while not stellar, has been reasonable thanks to the $17bn in remittances expatriates send back each year. To be sure, that reflects the economy’s inability to create jobs. But it is a sizeable chunk of money that has underpinned domestic consumption, and could kick-start a better economic trajectory if supportive policies are put in place. Second, the elections themselves went more smoothly than many hoped, given fears about the voting system and the sporadically violent nature of Philippine democracy.

Perhaps more in hope than in expectation, the nation has rallied around Mr Aquino as it once did around his mother. That gives him a chance to make a difference. He must not throw it away.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Imelda

She's going shopping shopping for shoes
She wants them in magenta and caribbean blue
Platinum and buttercup lilac and black
They fill a bucket up and laugh behind her back
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you

In New York and Paris on the Champs Elysée
They see her coming from a long long way
They clap their hands together when they get her in the store
She's gonna wanna get more more more and more and more
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you

Everyone's gone Jackie O
She was a regular here
We thought madame would like to know
We've got the blood red rouge right here

Now we've got all of madame's requisites and all in madame's size
Madame's taste is truly exquisite she must accessorise
The belts are alligator the bags are kangaroo
Enchanté may I say the jade was made for you
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you