Imelda Marcos

Imelda Marcos, born in 1929, widow of former Philippine president-dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and a representative in the Philippine House of Representatives (1995- ). Born Imelda Romualdez, she grew up in rural Leyte Island. Through her beauty and singing voice she entered Manila society and in 1953 won the title of Miss Manila. In 1954 she married Ferdinand Marcos, then a member of the House of Representatives. When her husband became president in 1965, Imelda Marcos broke with tradition and took an active role in political life. She launched a number of notable projects, such as the construction of a cultural center in Manila Bay and the establishment of the Manila Film Festival. She also served as governor of the National Capital Region from 1975 to 1986 and as minister of human settlements and ecology from 1978 to 1986. As Ferdinand Marcos’s health deteriorated, she exerted more influence in the government.

Imelda Marcos and her husband used their power to amass private wealth. They siphoned foreign aid, loans, and the profits of domestic companies into private bank accounts. The Marcoses lived an extravagant lifestyle that contrasted sharply with the lives of ordinary Filipinos, the majority of whom lived in poverty. Imelda Marcos gained an international reputation for her enormous collection of clothes, shoes, and art, most of which are now on public display in the Malacañang (Presidential) Palace in Manila. In the 1986 elections, widespread fraud provoked a popular uprising that forced the Marcoses into exile in Hawaii and put Corazon Aquino in power.

While living in exile, the Marcoses were indicted by a U.S. grand jury on charges of corruption and graft during their years in power in the Philippines. All of the charges were dropped after Ferdinand Marcos died in 1989. In 1991 the Philippine government allowed Imelda Marcos to return to the Philippines so that criminal and civil charges could be brought against her in Philippine courts. In 1993 she was convicted of misappropriating about $1 million in public funds while her husband was in office. She was released on bail and appealed the conviction with the Philippine Supreme Court. In 1998, on her second appeal, the court overturned the conviction.

Marcos meanwhile launched her own political career in the Philippines. In 1992 she campaigned for the presidency in an attempt to revive the political following of her husband; however, she received only a small percentage of the votes cast. In 1995 Marcos won election to the House of Representatives, representing a district in her home province of Leyte.