Imelda Marcos: Steel Butterfly | Full Documentary | Biography

i think she always saw herself as somebody who cared for the people she would be remembered for bringing us to the limelight the country by the mid 70s when martial is in full swing she's a power broker when rumors about her extravagance surfaced and that added on to an increasing negative image of the other marcos when they went to my classes they did not find skeletons only shoes [Music] adored by her fans and despised by her critics imelda marcos was one of the most polarizing figures of the 20th century as first lady of the philippines the lasting image most people have is that of her massive shoe collection but for more than 20 years she was also a political powerhouse in recent years imelda has transformed into a pop culture icon but when she was honored in 2009 old tensions resurfaced and the protesters came out once again to rally against the steel butterfly from beauty queen to conjugal dictator her life has been a story of dedication determination and reinvention imelda romerios visitacion remueldes was born on july 2 1929 in the philippine capital of manila she was the first child born to vincente orestes hermaldes a lawyer from a prominent political family and his second wife remedios trinidad imelda's parents had a tumultuous marriage they would repeatedly separate and reconcile romerios tried to shield imelda from much of the domestic turbulence but imelda still saw signs of her unhappiness my mother used to watch her mother crying herself to sleep night after night it seemed like she had a pretty miserable marriage and i think imelda learned from that and it was toughened by that experience imelda's mother came from a humble working class background and was known to have a great singing voice she died when imelda was almost nine years old leaving imelda in the care of her eldest stepsister with the passing of his wife and the failure of his business ventures vincente moved his family out of the big city and to his home province of leyte to pursue a simpler way of life imelda's family became the black sheep of the romuldes clan i think that imelda came from a fairly middle-class family but she always felt poor in relation to her relatives because she was the the her father was the least successful of his brothers but they had a maid they had a driver they lived fairly well this second-class stature became the motivator for imelda to achieve fame and fortune in her own right as she entered her teenage years imelda was growing into an attractive young woman she dreamed of becoming a performer she had a beautiful mezzo soprano singing voice and would sing for american troops stationed in the philippines we'll tell you what her favorite song was when we were children when i grow to be a lady i'll be a queen a lovely queen and then my prince will come to claim his own and love will crown me on my throne in 1947 an 18 year imelda caught her first glimpse of her future husband ferdinand marcos a thirty-year-old war hero came to speak in tacloban she was attracted to people who who were a strong character and who were obviously going to make something of themselves but that was the first time she saw him and she was smitten i'm going to tell you that she was smitten i don't think she's going to contradict that in 1948 imelda enrolled at saint paul's college where she owned only average grades she was so popular there that she was voted the school's first female student body president in 1949 she earned her first beauty title rose of tacloban after graduating with a degree in education imelda's father urged her to go on to study law or medicine but according to those who knew her she had other more personal aspirations as a young woman another was really looking to as she wrote at one point anchor her life to someone she felt that it wasn't worth it for her to try to be a doctor or a lawyer some of her sisters were very accomplished but imelda was never a serious student in 1952 a 23 year old imelda moved to manila to expand her horizons and find a suitable husband she had a hard time settling into manila her lack of social status made it difficult for her to break into the upper circles she desired to be a part of imelda had just come in from the province and i guess nobody really knew much about her or she was considered the in the philippines they call it when they call you um a country class they call it provinciana meaning you're from the province you know a few months after arriving in the capital imelda had a pair of lucky breaks first she landed a modeling job for a manila magazine then she campaigned around the city to win the miss manila beauty contest she lost but that didn't stop imelda from winning nonetheless she actually went in to see the mayor who's um was a very dashing figure and was known to be interested in pretty women and went alone to see him and convinced him to name her miss manila overruling the jury's decision going to see the mayor alone was a bold move on imelda's part it was considered improper for an unchaperoned single woman to meet with a man if in fact it's true that she went alone was indeed a bold move and could probably also point to her ambition in her determination to really get what she wants so that speaks more to the kind of person that she was the mayor's decision was met with resistance so he created a new title for imelda the muse of manila the pageant put imelda in the spotlight and she began to receive invitations to society events the publicity also brought imelda a variety of suitors one of them was a filipino journalist named benigno ninoy aquino their relationship was brief but they would cross paths many more times in the future on april 6 1954 wearing a house dress and slippers imelda went to the philippine congress to pick up her cousin it was there that she bumped into congressman ferdinand marcos ferdinand amelda met literally in the in the legislative building they ran into each other he was struck by her immediately by her beauty he walked up to her asked her just to stand up compared their heights and said fine the rest is okay i'm getting married ironically both of them were engaged to other people but marcos's proposal was serious and they immediately started a courtship she went off to show her engagement ring to me but he's short you know much shorter than i so i said so you won't be able to wear your high heels well i'll have to think about that but he's very persistent marcos followed imelda with a marriage certificate in his pocket for 11 days when she finally accepted they immediately had a civil ceremony imelda wouldn't consider the marriage official until she and ferdinand had a formal church wedding which they did two weeks later on may 1st 1954. it was followed by a reception sponsored by the president who that same year married another couple that would become a key part of filipino history benigno and corazon aquino the marcoses were the picture-perfect couple the beautiful woman and the powerful man but underneath that image were two people who married into a life that would help them forget about their troubled pasts he married a beauty queen which she was but he also married a political asset it's a marriage made in political heaven in the philippines bringing together two rival families for marcos the romuldes family name and their political connections were very important little did he know that imelda herself was a far more valuable asset than he ever anticipated for imelda the marriage was just the thing she always wanted but she was not prepared for the life-changing demands of being a politician's wife as the marcus settled into married life imelda found that being a politician's wife was far more complex than she anticipated she thought that she could just be a housewife and raise a family but ferdinand had different plans for her he wanted imelda to use her family name to push forward his career but once marcos visited tacloban he realized just how poor imelda's past was compared to her relatives as well as how rough around the edges imelda was culturally to be a politician's wife imelda needed a proper education in the ways of the upper class the other congressman's wives really snubbed her that first year and that made it all so hard for her they she would be very friendly to them and they would give her the cold shoulder they saw her as a provincial upstart she was shy she was insecure she was frightened literally frightened of of the crowds in those days and so there she was on this stage all of a sudden with the most prominent of the most aggressive most ambitious of politicians marcos pushed imelda to be more self-confident assertive and sophisticated the high expectations he set for her soon took a dangerous toll before he left her office he'd say now you stay in the library you read this books that i have set aside and when i come back you will tell me what you read what you acquired and all that sort of thing and she learned how to memorize the name of each town mayor who was his wife how many children they had and what their names were i mean it was really amazing and i think that is what led to a breakdown that everybody was talking about imelda was found in a state of exhaustion and virtually comatose and it was just the stresses of of her life as a as a politician's wife and they flew her to new york for psychiatric treatment marcos told imelda he would give up all of his political ambitions if it would make her feel better imelda did not want marcos to abandon his dreams so she decided to push her fears and insecurities aside and embrace the confidence and extroverted nature that was required of her i don't think he would ever have given up his quest for power at any rate she decides to therefore from then on be a full-fledged player and she learns and she she's a quick learner in 1964 marcos ran for president of the philippines by now he and imelda had three children daughter aimee son ferdinand junior and daughter irene but her devotion to her husband's campaign left little time for the children imelda hit the campaign trail with a vengeance and with great success she shook as many hands as she could and sang filipino folk songs for the crowds from one end of the country to the other she amazed everyone with her stamina and endurance in the beginning you know she was hailed as a fresh face very different from the usual dowdy politician's wife and she had oodles of charm so and she could sing and she was after a while she was very much a prized asset in terms of campaigning because you have to understand when you go on the campaign trail in the philippines it does help to have certain show biz traits she managed to really give people a sense of a fairy tale come true because she portrayed herself as coming from nothing and being transformed by marcos and that gave the impression actually that this could happen to them as well in 1964 the country was suffering from rampant corruption violence and poverty filipinos saw ferdinand as their great hope and the marcoses were being compared to the kennedys [Applause] on november 2nd 1965 ferdinand marcos became president of the philippines marcos called imelda his secret weapon and the victory marked the beginning of imelda's transition from political pupil to political partner thousands of people came from all over the provinces to see the inauguration but they were far more interested in seeing imelda as first lady mrs marcos focused on modernizing manila she devoted a lot of time developing the city's skyline it was eventually said that she had developed an edifice complex i remember when growing up in the philippines house whenever there is a major event that she helped organize she would build this huge building or edifice especially the cultural center the cultural center was one of imelda's first controversial projects intended to promote philippine arts the project's modest budget ballooned to 50 million pesos the architectural showpiece was considered out of touch with the financial situation of the country the centre's harshest critic was senator ninoy aquino who called the structure bereft of social conscience the criticism was not taken lightly by the marcuses and added to an already tense relationship between the two families in 1969 the cultural center was officially opened to much fanfare it's interesting because of the inauguration demarcus invite governor ronald reagan and his wife nancy and that begins their relationship which continues all through the final years of marcus's presidency so you know right from the start her eye was set on getting approval from people like the reagans from the west once she becomes a player on the national stage then it affects everything that she does now that she was first lady imelda was being pursued by the upper class women that snubbed her years earlier at the same time imelda began to rewrite her history she increasingly began to downplay her poor origins and painted a picture of a more privileged life imelda's political work was far from over she now had to help marcos build strong ties with america which was paying the philippines handsomely to host two important u.s military bases philippines has had a very important place strategically in u.s foreign policy because of its geographical location but especially so in uh during the vietnam war and that's when marcos came to power so marcus uh uses this very well you know he um he's a he was a brilliant politician and imelda is also a brilliant charmer so in tandem they have this formidable team you know and they really worked on the ropes so to speak on a rainy day in washington pomp and ceremony attend the formal reception of philippine president ferdinand e marcos the marcosus made their first state visit to washington dc in 1966. they were received by president lyndon johnson and his wife lady bird the opening of the new metropolitan opera house at new york's lincoln center is attended by president and mrs marcos as the guests of mrs johnson she was introduced to many of the richest people in the world who happened to live in new york and she saw the fabulous buildings and was taken with them and she said my in america when you're rich you're really rich upon their return to washington imelda surprised guests at a reception by singing a filipino love song to president johnson never before had the wife of a head of state done such a thing on an official visit the move made international news and the papers called imelda charming one month later the johnsons came to manila for a summit conference to discuss the vietnam war for the occasion imelda pulled out all the stops one night they had this extravagant party and lyndon gets on the dance floor with imelda she's into lyndon johnson because lyndon johnson's a president united states babe and he's going to bring money at re-election time in 1969 the philippine economy was performing badly and people were starting to realize that marcos had no miracle cure despite his unpopularity marcos secured himself the presidency and became the first president in philippine history to be re-elected imelda was once again considered the key to bringing in the decisive votes but things soured quickly after the elections people rioted in the streets and threw stones and bottles of the first couple and there was just as much unrest inside the gates of the palace in 1970 ferdinand marcos became the subject of a shocking sex scandal it centered on a little-known american actress named davey beams she comes there to make a movie and actually marcos has got to give her a tumble right now she astutely brings along a tape recorder and she tapes all this heaving and grunting that's going on and when he dumps her she gives the tape to a radio station which then broadcasts it imelda was humiliated and angry she was aware of ferdinand's philandering ways and willingly turned a blind eye as long as things remained discreet but this scandal became public being a catholic imelda would not even consider divorcing her husband first of all divorce is not legal in the philippines and this is because of the strong opposition from the catholic church then of course you know there was no way imelda marcos could divorce ferdinand marcus for the affair instead imelda used the scandal to leverage power from her husband in the aftermath of the w beam scandal imelda emerged as a much tougher lady than ever before in control of much of the wealth of the country maybe even half she traveled the globe meeting with world leaders and spending a fortune at the best stores this enhanced her movie star image among the millions of poor filipinos who loved her but the wealthy did not appreciate her extravagance especially since they were obligated to donate money to amelda's causes money that seemed to be going into the marcos's pockets rather than their projects among the more educated people we began to see that there was a power trip that was happening and that made it very difficult to accept her in fact the media started to become very very nasty towards not only her not only imelda but her husband because we were already beginning to see where this partnership was going in 1970 despite efforts to block its release the untold story of imelda marcos was published the book was the first to expose imelda's true origins as told through friends and family it was an instant hit and it forced imelda to refute the official history she crafted over the years in 1972 as marcos second term began to draw to a close imelda was accused of trying to bribe lawmakers to overturn the two-term limit rule for the office of the president the marcuses officially denied the allegations as the bribery charges became public imelda announced that she was pregnant the pregnancy overshadowed the bribery charges but soon after it was reported that she had suffered a miscarriage the story made all the manila newspapers and it quieted down the scandal very effectively but afterwards i actually talked to one of her press aides at the time who said we wrote these releases wincing because they knew that there was it was all faked as the second term drew to a close there was talk of imelda running for president but her chances at a successful bid were negated by her growing unpopularity due to her extravagant lifestyle in september 1972 ferdinand marcos declared martial law to stay in power marcos claimed it was necessary to combat the threat of the communist opposition even those who were in the marcus government back then just prior to the declaration of martial in 1972 said that there was really no imminent danger coming from the communists congress was abolished and tens of thousands of perceived enemies were thrown in jail one of the first to be incarcerated was marcos's top political rival and imelda's former beau benigno aquino all critical voices were now silenced people saw very quickly that that it in fact was a way for the marcosus to take much more control and go on with their activities of enriching themselves and clamping down on human rights the marcoses now had total control of the philippines and the opposition to the dictatorship was about to turn violent [Music] despite the implementation of martial law imelda marcos was still much loved in the provinces in the cities however her reputation as a frivolous spender was angering many opposition groups her unpopularity took a violent turn on december 7 1972 when a man tried to stab her during a public appearance she was not seriously injured but was said to have milked the incident for all it was worth as roving ambassador for her husband imelda held many high-profile meetings with international leaders she talked about chairman mao how all the chinese welcomed her and he kissed her hand there's a photo on the piano of him kissing her hand she was talking about when she went to cuba how fidel castro drove for her and she says that he told her that the only person he had ever driven for in his life before her was his mother then there was her meeting with libyan leader muammar qaddafi considered the world's most dangerous man at the time the meeting resulted in gaddafi signing the tripoli agreement which ended a war between the marcos government and the philippine muslim movement imelda was an international power player and the first first lady to be actively involved in national affairs everywhere she went a camera crew from the government-run tv station followed her she was media savvy she had an entourage that always had a photographer probably a couple journalists who were i used journalists slightly in in this case who were basically employed by her to write all these spin stories since the marcus's now controlled almost all of the philippine media the filipino general public would rarely hear about the excessive shopping sprees and all night parties that accompanied many of these trips all of which were being covered by the society magazines around the world imelda would go into tiffany's after it was closed and have her own private shopping session and they'd have to restock of course afterwards but imelda has always denied she was a big spender most of my jewelries and my and valuables were gifts to me by my husband and of i i i did not actually do the shopping for this they would say you like this and sometimes i think it's nice but the actual buying was never done by me when she became more active uh including you know being the ambassadors to different countries and then the the perception of the public including myself my perception of imelda mark was changed and then when rumors about her extravagance surfaced and that added on to an increasing negative image of imelda marcus in the philippines by now imelda's involvement in marcos's politics labeled the couple a conjugal dictatorship there's the book that had been written about the conjugal dictatorship that she was very active in in governing the country and then there's also a group of people who just saw her as the extravagant one and that she probably did not have a hand in siphoning you know the nation's wealth during martial law the marcos's personal wealth was increasing by 1975 the marcos fortune was so vast the cosmopolitan magazine named imelda one of the 10 richest women in the world this at a time when her husband's salary was 13 dollars a year and nearly thirty percent of filipinos could barely afford basic necessities he said for heaven's sake you're gonna get me kidnapped and and i don't want people to think about me as a rich lady i want them to think about me as the wife of ferdinand the first lady of the country doing a few good things imelda began collecting rich and famous friends which included the likes of pianist van clyburn socialite christina ford as well as a close relationship with actor george hamilton the new gang was at a status much higher than she could ever aspire to reach in the philippines she realized there were bigger puns to play in and of course once she got accepted into certain international circles that automatically meant entree into the upper crust in manila but of course within that upper crust there were people who still resented her and felt she was you know novorish but she didn't particularly care because she had the power she had the money at home imelda had a private disco built atop the presidential palace she parted with her friends and she loved to get on stage and see much like most filipinos [Music] everybody loves to sing so even if you go to the barrios and the province of the small towns everybody will have like a dvd player with -1 soundtrack and people are singing with a bouncing ball she would go on singing until three or four o'clock in the morning and at seven the next morning she'd be up zipping around doing things i don't know how she did it imelda's political power grew she was named mayor of metro manila in 1975. the position put her second only to the president at the same time she's the minister of human settlements which is then a new position giving her access to huge reserves of public funds and at the same time she's on the board of like 23 government corporations agencies councils etc so even as ferdinand is the head of state she's also there maybe not as much in the spotlight politically by now imelda was nicknamed the steel butterfly the one thing you don't associate with the butterfly is steel it seems fragile it's gossamer you know you can squash it easily but not imelda she might seem you know fragile and dainty but she's not she has this inner core that is tough and you know if you get in her way then she has ways of getting around you or over you so that's my interpretation and i don't think you'll find most filipinos who disagree with that by the early 1980s imelda's personal spending reached unparalleled heights among her purchases were four pieces of prime new york city real estate which would come back to haunt her in later years when ronald reagan became president of the united states in 1980 the marcos went to the white house for their second official state visit this time imelda's charm was far less effective upon arrival the press hounded her about the reports of human rights violations in the philippines when she danced around the issue the press simply chose to ignore her back home the public was becoming more aware of imelda's exploits in the early 1980s the so-called alternative press started to come out among what they published were again stories of imelda's extravagance and also they published articles that were very critical of demarcuses november was the 1983 storybook wedding she threw for her daughter irene for the occasion imelda had ferdinand's humble hometown remodeled into a rendition of a spanish colonial town complete with a brand new airport and a 250 room luxury hotel the final cost was a reported 10 million dollars many believed imelda's spending was completely out of control but she found ways to justify it she would say ambassador you don't understand the people of the philippines love me and they like to see me traveling and living well because through me their own lives become better well that's that was a little difficult to to credit given the abject poverty in which so many people in the philippines lived but i think in many ways she'd actually persuaded herself that this was true there was some dissatisfaction and complaints from the opposition that they were throwing away so much money and of course the marcuses could justify that by saying it's their own money but then that's another issue because many people think that uh their wealth was ill ill-gotten wealth by 1983 ferdinand marcos was gravely ill with lupus and related kidney problems and imelda was taking on more and more presidential duties my whole thesis is that we need to look at her as being a conscious political agent by this point in time they're working in tandem in fact when marcus realized he had lupus and he knew his days were numbered he named her as his successor so it was clear that he felt she could carry on in his footsteps and enforce the policies that he had created ferdinand was losing his grip on power opposition groups were challenging his regime the biggest threat came from marcos long-time political nemesis benigno ninoy aquino aquino had been jailed under martial law and in 1980 was allowed to leave the philippines to go to america for heart surgery then in 1983 he decided to return and run against the ailing marcos imelda flew to new york to convince him to stop his campaign against the marcos's undeterred aquino chose to return to the philippines my feeling is we all have to die sometime if it's my faith to die by assassin's bullet so be it but i cannot be petrified by an action or fear of assassination and therefore stay in a corner so he comes back and the plane full of newsmen and women and lands in manila at the airport walks off the plane [Applause] and is shot dead as soon as his feet touched the ground filipinos were devastated by the murder ninoy had seemed their only hope of pushing marcos from power but in fact from this point on akina was considered a martyr and imelda's days as first lady were numbered the assassination of ninoy aquino united the filipino people in a way no one could have imagined i remember all the the outpouring of grief and support for nina aquino you know photos and of tv footage of the procession you know you could not help but feel that such grave injustice was done then on november 3 1985 ferdinand marcos appeared on american television to call the first philippine election in years i announced that i am ready to call a snap election his opponent was to be nino aquino's widow corazon in her trademark yellow outfits and despite her total lack of political experience corey won the hearts of millions of filipinos who dressed in yellow to show solidarity during the election imelda came out once again to campaign for her husband she launched personal attacks against aquino criticizing her lack of beauty and glamour and i think it's also personal because corey was born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth she's from one of the wealthiest families in the country and imalda came from the poor clan of a politically powerful family imelda may have thought her attacks could overshadow aquino's political platform but they could not this time she was clearly not the public's darling she wants to drag corey down on the basis of superficial criteria which doesn't look good she needs to pay attention to her hair and of course this infuriates the public because they're like saying what has this got to do with the mess we're in and by that point people have had it with imelda on february 7 1986 corazon aquino won the philippine presidency it took marcos more than two weeks to concede the loss by then millions of filipinos had made history with their peaceful people power demonstrations in the streets of manila they wanted the president and imelda out on february 25th the marcos finally accepted defeat typically they couldn't leave without making one last dramatic appearance he and amelda go to a balcony and sing some love song to the public that are beneath the balconies like some scene out of shakespeare [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] after ruling the philippines for 21 years ferdinand and imelda marcos quickly packed up as much as they could and boarded a plane for america they had been granted asylum by the reagan administration and settled in hawaii meanwhile the philippines was left in economic ruin the general public swarmed the presidential palace when we got hold of that news that demarcuses had left we were jumping with joy and we heard that people had gone to malacanang palace and that they had somehow managed to break into the palace and there were some i think looting but what struck us afterwards was the discovery of the immense wealth of demarcuses what imelda left behind in the presidential palace shocked the world her 2 200 pairs of shoes the designer dresses some from rome or only days before fleeing she placed her last 80 000 order out of all the items found in the palace the shoes quickly became legend her supporters say imelda only had so many pairs of shoes because she was trying to help her country there are two sides to every story there are you know the shoe industry the reason for that was every time they they designed a new pattern they would give her copies as the first lady and that's how she promoted the shoe industry the first thing the newly elected president did was to form the commission on good government its task was to investigate what it called the ill-gotten gains of the marcos regime and numbers started to surface as to how much they were really worth and the numbers went from 2 billion to 10 billion dollars and that is to me and to many filipinos very very scandalous given the fact that so many filipinos continue to be poor in october 1988 a new york grand jury indicted the marcuses for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the philippine government and illegally investing the money in secret holdings in the united states including properties in new york imelda faced the charges alone by this time her husband was on his deathbed it was the first time a wife of a foreign head of state had to stand trial in an american court ferdinand marcos died on september 28 1989. imelda was devastated six months after her husband's death the one-time steel butterfly went on trial in new york with her lawyers now portraying her as a small fragile widow the three-month trial provided all the usual fireworks people had come to associate with imelda marcos one day she even collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital ultimately imelda was found not guilty the jury believed ferdinand marcos might have committed crimes but was not convinced that imelda knew about any wrongdoing ferdinand had been there he'd have been convicted unconvinced and they said as much as they just didn't want to hold the widow responsible for his conduct the problem is the widow is probably as responsible as as the dictator himself for at least half of the looting that went on but imelda has always denied any wrongdoing one is born alone and dies alone and i know other mark was as even the lord will smile that we have done well with our lives the first place imelda went after her acquittal was new york's saint patrick's cathedral where she prayed in gratefulness [Music] in 1991 after five years in exile imelda marcos was finally allowed by the philippine government to return home with her children she was now going to face scores of criminal and civil cases back in manila as was her usual style imelda made a dramatic splash upon her return come back for so many people were you know we were i was crushed in the airport so many people wanting to just to get me real [Applause] for many filipinos the charges against imelda just weren't an issue there was no big mass protest you know marcus by then had died and the philippines was still trying to get back on its feet in her hometown of tacloban imelda's name is just about everywhere and most people have only good things to say about the former first lady she has this charm you know you just can't help but even even her detractors after a while they'll say my goodness she's got this charm you just can't help but like her after a while when i met imelda marco she was this tall regal queen like figure she walks into the room like uh she sweeps into a room when she comes in she's like oh i'm so honored that you're here she was it was like you feel like you're her honored guest aside from her charm imelda is also known for her ability to talk for hours on end they meld the market with very high energy the first day we were with her and she spoke i think for seven hours straight she wanted me to stay longer but i had a meeting which i had to go to so she just said well we'll just continue another time but she wanted to meet afterwards [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in 1992 imelda was back on center stage running for president of the philippines she lost the election as well as another presidential run in 1998 although in between the two elections she did win a seat in congress and then with her congressional win it's not surprising because you know she represented her people who from her district or from her town and people from her town continued to support her despite what she did as imelda marcos entered her 70s she continued to fight scores of lawsuits though her health began to decline she still kept busy every day promoting the political careers of her children and crusading to clear the marcos name there's actually an enough marcos loyalists left in the philippines so that imelda can hear from a variety of voices how the marcos legacy could be redeemed and i think to her dying days she'll still have faith that that can be and she's never been convicted um so people can say well you know there's all this talk that she's guilty but she's never been convicted we can just assume she's innocent since 1991 she has faced some 900 civil and criminal cases and all but a handful have been dropped [Applause] in 2001 imelda turned her primary public liability into an asset when she presided over the inauguration of manila's shoe museum where she gave her stock answer to the charge of greed [Music] well at least it came out to be a very positive thing because when they went to my classes they did not find skeletons only shoes i saw those shoes there were hundreds of shoes at that malacanang museum she said she really wasn't more into dresses more than shoes but for every dress she would have two pairs of shoes one with high high heels for when she was out of abroad and one with lower heels because her husband wasn't too tall imelda's image was now undergoing a transformation the days of the steel butterfly were slowly disappearing and imelda the pop culture icon was about to emerge in 2003 filipino filmmaker ramona s diaz released imelda a documentary about imelda's life that featured extensive interviews with mrs marcos i come from a third world country third class province and i was orphaned and look imelda made it if imelda made it everybody can make it imelda tried to stop the film's release in the philippines and briefly succeeded but ultimately the documentary was released and to great critical reviews as imelda approached her 80s her public image began to change it had been nearly 20 years since her exile from the philippines and while many still associated her name with the shoes they were not fully aware of her political past instead people were becoming more familiar with imelda as a pop culture icon i think one may feel discouraged by the seemingly lack of awareness of the younger generation they don't seem to know what the marcus's did and that imelda is considered as maybe a cultural icon or even just a harmless person there's no outrage in what she did in the philippines i mean people are still wondering well how come she was allowed to run as president in 1992 you know which leads me to the fact that she's become this pop figure and in a way it relieves her of having to answer for her political role because if all she is now is a pop cultural icon then she's being given a pass in his tombstone it says filipino in my tombstone i would like to have inscribed here lies love but really he lies love in 2006 former talking head singer david byrne performed here lies love at new york's carnegie hall the performance consisted of a series of songs by byrne and british artist fatboy slim that were about the life of imelda marcos the title comes from the words that imelda wants written on her tombstone when she passes in 2006 imelda released a jewelry line called the imelda collection the line mixes pieces from her personal jewels and clothes with new materials the imelda collection was a jewelry line which she said her grandson borgie came up with she said he came up with this idea of having this jewelry line which would embody her and her envelopingness imeldific i think has come to be known worldwide she said it's characterized by ostentatiousness and she said that she saw it in the dictionary somewhere that it up to the point extent of vulgarity in june of 2009 imelda held a press conference in her two-story manila penthouse to declare that she was broke the announcement was made as she wore a 22-carat diamond ring on her finger i've read news reports about her claiming that she's broke that because of all the lawsuits but i don't believe that of course she continues to appear in public wearing lots of jewelry and she continues to live in a very expensive condo in manila in july of 2009 imelda celebrated her 80th birthday in a speech she made that evening imelda was quoted as saying that i had the best best best life i had the worst worst worst life in keeping with tradition imelda also entertained her guests with her singing during the party imelda also asked for a moment of silence to pray for the health of her former political rival an ailing corazon aquino on august 1 2009 aquino died of cancer upon her death imelda reached out to reconcile with the aquino family the aquinos invited the michael's family to the wake but told imelda they should not expect a warm welcome in september of 2009 the government-run cultural centre of the philippines held a controversial 40th anniversary gala tribute honoring its founder imelda marcos there were protests from various groups like the act act the association of concerned teachers that that she should not be honored for what she did and that the current director of the cultural center justified what the cultural center did by saying she did indeed made a lot of contributions to you know first by by constructing the cultural center at the same time making it a showcase so-called showcase of filipino culture three months later imelda filed papers to declare her candidacy for the congressional seat being vacated by her son ferdinand jr for the most part imelda marcos has very few regrets to this day she states that she believes she did great things for the filipino people i would look in her eyes like trying to see and she seemed to really believe what she was saying that she believed that she helped the filipinos she believed that um they they did what was right according to her friends she has only one main regret she's only sorry i told you that as first lady and living in a palace you can't be as close to your children right i mean it's not like our everyday life i know i have my children coming for dinner and my grandchildren and she's sorry about that she loves him dearly she's a good mother and she's a very good grandmother when the question arises as to how imelda will be remembered the answer as with all things imelda varies greatly with each person you ask she will be remembered for her beauty she will be remembered for goodness of her heart she will be remembered for the things she did for the poor she will be remembered for bringing us to the limelight the country she built the cultural center of the philippines she built international convention center she built hotels she built a folk arts theater she had a lot of projects reportedly for the poor um but the poor didn't get their lives didn't get any better she gave him hollywood she gave she she gave him a movie star to get at but nothing much else i would say to outsiders whenever i mentioned you know the marcus the first thing they would say says oh imelda in her shoes and of course along with that with the kind of extravagant lifestyle that she had within the philippines to her friends supporters should always be the woman who was beautiful who looked after them whom they would continue to speak in growing terms i'm sure you

Channel: Biography

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Keywords: mini biography, biography, full biography, bio, history, bio channel, biography channel, biography tv, documentary, biography documentary channel, the biography channel, full episode, biography documentary, biographies, mini bio, biography channel documentary, biography a&e, documentaries, biography of famous people, Imelda Marcos: Steel Butterfly, phillipines, filipino, philipino, first lady, first lady of the philipines, shopping spree, skyscrapers, spree, colorful and controversial

Id: 7TDKq4iJUqc

Length: 51min 15sec (3075 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2022