“Trabaho lang, walang personalan, walang kapatiran (It’s just a job, nothing personal, no siblings),” says Senator Imee Marcos about issues where her position is in stark contrast with her brother’s. Imee is her father’s daughter. She is a stickler for things, like her father was.

Ferdinand Marcos Sr. grew up in a privileged milieu. He excelled at school and took an eager interest in things like sports.

Senator Imee Marcos knows that foremost in her father’s mind were the rights of the people, the wealth that must be spread among the cities and towns and the people on the farms, based on equity and justice.

But today we are in a feud. Just yesterday, we were in a UniTeam Alliance, an electoral giant in scope. It was like a balloon filled with air that exploded into nothingness after short-lived glory.

Ferdinand Marcos Sr., in his diaries, had a soft spot for his older daughter, the child most likely to succeed. On 20 April 1970, a proud father turned up at Assumption to pin a medal on “Imee who won the topmost honors in school. In all her subjects. And her teachers were proud of her.”

I need not add to what has been said and continues to be said on what transpired at Assumption Convent.

Senator Maria Imelda “Imee” Romualdez Marcos, channeling the sterling qualities of her late father, gave some stern but loving advice to her younger brother, Bongbong: stand firm and stop being bedeviled by opportunists and the corrupt lest you erode the support of the 31 million until it is all gone.”

Senator Marcos has taken a stand against the arrest and forced transfer of former President Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague to face the International Criminal Court.

She has been relentless in her questioning of the people involved in the “allegedly illegal arrest and surrendering of former President Duterte to the ICC.” She is in search of a means and a solid basis for bringing Duterte back to the Philippines, as quickly as he was “allegedly kidnapped and taken against his will.”

On 21 March 2025, in Trece Martires, Cavite, we were surprised that Imee Marcos did not show up for the big rally at the capital grounds. She also was not mentioned by President Marcos Jr. in his endorsement speech.

While President Bongbong Marcos delivers his campaign speeches for unity, in some cases involving policy decisions, they are in contrast with those of Senator Imee Marcos.

For example, on the celebration of the EDSA anniversary, President Marcos acknowledged the commemoration of the People Power Revolution with a statement calling on Filipinos to unite to make the country a better place.

Senator Marcos, however, said this about EDSA: “To me, the truth of EDSA is that we owe millions of Filipinos still living in squalor, ignorance and hunger the promise of change. Together as one nation, let us go forth to transform this poor and unjust country into the Philippines that is truly and finally for all Filipinos.”

Email: artbesana@gmail.com.