She once served as the "world's richest woman" and "the most influential woman in Asia", and she is known as the "Iron Butterfly", which is the honorific title given to her by the West. However, she was also sentenced to arrest in the Philippine Anti-Corruption Court in 2018.
This is the legendary woman, the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos.
From the "Goddess of Manila" to the Lady **, Imelda's life is full of surprises. Despite the country's 10 billion fortune and the pursuit of a luxurious life, the Filipino people still built a museum for her.
What is the life experience of this charismatic and controversial woman? How did she spend her life? In the summer of 1929, the lawyer gave birth to a daughter for his wife in Manila, named Imelda Remetios Romuldetz.
However, her privileged family circumstances did not last long, and as the family's financial situation deteriorated, her father had to sell his house in Manila to pay off his debts, and the family moved back to his hometown of Taklaban, South Leyte province.
However, despite the hardships of life, Imelda persisted in her pursuit of higher goals and studied very hard, successfully completing her studies in education at the University of St. Tepol.
Not only is Imelda excellent in her studies, but she also has an outstanding appearance and tall figure. At the age of 18, she stood out in the South Wright Province beauty pageant and won the title of Miss South Wright, known as the "Rose of Tacloban".
Not content with staying in her hometown, she came to Manila with Rep. Don Cousin Neal after graduating from college, hoping to find more opportunities there. At first, she sold records in a ** store, and soon after joined the intelligence department of the Philippine Department of Finance.
In 1953, she performed well at the first Manila International Exposition, winning the title of "Miss Manila" runner-up and being hailed as the "Goddess of Manila".
This laid the foundation for her later career in politics. After becoming the "Goddess of Manila", she went on to study soprano at the Philippine Women's University, which was her forte.
The encounter with Marcos also became an important point in her life.
As Imelda struggled towards becoming a soprano, a chance encounter led her to meet Congressman Marcos. This was their first meeting and the starting point of their later marriage.
At the time, Marcos, 35, proposed to 22-year-old Imelda and promised to make her the future Mrs. **. After only 11 days of acquaintance, they got married in a flash of lightning.
Although her dream of becoming a soprano was not realized, Imelda's voice was not buried. Her singing still played an important role in many major political events that followed.
During Marcos' campaign, Imelda's help allowed him to gain a large number of votes. Imelda is not only Marcos's "virtuous helper", but also his "personal secret**".
In 1966, Marcos visited the United States for the first time since becoming a Filipino.
At the banquet, Imelda amazed the audience with the voice of a soprano, adding a strong artistic atmosphere to the reception of ambassadors from various countries. Her singing undoubtedly played a positive role in promoting the smooth progress of the visit.
The union of Imelda and Marcos can be called a legendary and wonderful marriage story, which is not only the starting point of a new life, but also a milestone for Imelda to officially step into the world.
After marrying Marcos, Imelda's political brilliance was impressive. In order to successfully run for Congress, she gave more than a dozen speeches a day for several weeks, sometimes sleeping only three hours a day.
Her tenacity and abundant energy have won people's praise and admiration, and the West even calls her "Iron Butterfly".
Imelda is widely popular among the Filipino people because she is close to the people and not pretentious, and she is good at mingling with ordinary people. She does not pay attention to the height of the speech venue, but pays more attention to the content and object of the speech.
Therefore, she often travels to the slums to give speeches, and at the same time communicates with ordinary people. Whether it's a mother with a baby in her arms or a young man in a baseball cap, she can sit with them, have a long conversation on their knees, or sing a love song together.
Even if she was once stabbed by **, she never minded and still insisted on casual contact with ordinary people. With the full support of Imelda, Marcos went from a congressman to a Filipino**, and the two jointly established the Malacañan Palace.
After eleven years of hard work, Marcos worked his way up from Congressman to **, finally fulfilling the promise he made when he proposed. After serving as the Maraca Nan Palace, the Marcos family began a twenty-decade reign and amassed a fortune of $10 billion.
And Imelda is not only Mrs. **, but also served as the mayor of Metro Manila, and her goal is to make Manila the most beautiful city in the world. To achieve this ambitious goal, Imelda has promoted tree planting activities, increased the city's vegetation cover, improved urban roads, beautified the urban environment, and reduced the crime rate in Manila.
Although the number of slum dwellers is still high, in general, there is appreciation for what she has done.
Imelda's political talents are particularly outstanding in the field of diplomacy, and she has dominated the international arena with her outstanding diplomatic skills**. Romulo, the former minister of the Philippines, is known for his vast diplomatic experience, but seems to be slightly inferior to Imelda.
Maracañang Palace, the symbol of power in the Philippines, means "there are noble people there". After staying at the Malacañan Palace, Imelda began her diplomatic activities, traveling frequently around the world.
From 1972 to 1982, she was recorded on 62 trips to 33 countries. This series of diplomatic activities became known as "Malacañang Palace Diplomacy".
In these activities, Imelda showed a strong personal charm and added a strong touch to the world.
Imelda's diplomatic footprint is far-reaching and wide-ranging, especially in the establishment of diplomatic relations with China and the Soviet Union, and in meetings with the Libyan Revolutionary Council Chairman Muammar Gaddafi.
In March 1972, on her way back to the Philippines from Spain, she visited Moscow, a visit that was of great significance in promoting the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and the Soviet Union.
During her visit to the Soviet Union, Imelda was received by the quasi-head of state and stayed at a hotel at the foot of Lenin Mountain. Despite the fact that for various reasons she did not meet Brezhnev and Podgorny, her visit was still highly praised by the Soviet Union, praised for being both talented and beautiful.
Two years later, Imelda visited China for the first time as a "special representative", and although she was not yet in any public office, her influence was already visible.
Imelda's first visit to China laid a solid foundation for the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and China. **Accompanied by the whole process, **Warm reception, visit the commune to learn about industrial production. Imelda also traveled to the caves of Yan'an, where he was welcomed by thousands of people.
In Changsha, the two sides introduced their respective national conditions and discussed the establishment of diplomatic relations. In the conversation between Imelda and ***, they both expressed their willingness to establish diplomatic relations, but they lacked conditions.
The two countries have decided to establish diplomatic relations, and other conditions will be easily resolved. Imelda immediately assured *** that after returning to China, he would propose the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Philippines and China. Facts have proved that in less than a year after this visit to China, the Philippines and China have successfully established diplomatic relations, and the ** and cultural exchanges between the two countries have become increasingly prosperous.
In 1975, one year after his first visit to China, Imelda accompanied Marcos** on an important state visit to China. This is Imelda's second visit to China and the second time she has seen ***
After arriving in Beijing, the Marcos couple met with *** accompanied by ***. At this time, ***'s body was already very weak, but he still met for an hour, which was also the longest time that *** had met with a foreign head of state at that time.
In November of the following year, Imelda, who became mayor of Metro Manila, visited Libya, a visit that was considered a major test and was even called "breaking into the tiger's den".
Imelda visited Libya and was not able to meet ** as he wished, and in addition to being angry, he finally held talks with Gaddafi under the arrangement, expressing his dissatisfaction with waiting for many days and not being cared for, and said that even if she died here, she would become the first heroine of the Philippines.
The atmosphere of the talks was tense at first, but eventually the two sides coexisted peacefully, and talked about it until 3 a.m. the next day.
With her unique political wisdom and tenacious spiritual outlook, Imelda shows the power of beauty and is known as the real "iron butterfly". During the two decades of Marcos' rule, the Marcos family became one of the most politically powerful families in Asia and the richest in the world.
Marcos laid out a long-term plan for the development of the Philippines, built a large number of roads and schools, improved the country's infrastructure, and led the country to modernization.
However, he was also accused of being involved in large-scale ** crimes, violating democratic principles, and was highly controversial. Imelda co-ruled the Philippines with Marcos and achieved many important achievements in ** with her outstanding talent and charisma.
However, her pursuit of a luxurious lifestyle has also been criticized by the outside world. Even with the controversy, the woman still received the support and praise of many poor people.
Imelda contributed greatly to the city's poor patients, cultural centers, children's hospitals, and the light rail system, and she used ** funds and forced donations from the aristocracy to help the poor.
Marcos** was overthrown by the Filipino people in 1986, and the Marcos family went into exile in Hawaii with U.S. assistance, where Marcos died three years later.
After the Marcos family left, ordinary people found her collection of 3,000 pairs of shoes at Imelda's official residence, as well as rows of shelves worth thousands of dollars worth of gauze dresses, cupboards of high-end foreign clothing, many of which had not yet been removed.
Her wardrobe is filled with all kinds of jewelry and designer handbags, and the cabinet is full of expensive imported perfumes and cosmetics. Her 3,000 pairs of shoes were later put on museum display for all ordinary people.
The Marcos family's lavish lives have always been in the spotlight, especially their staggering wealth. According to Philippine newspapers, Imelda's young daughter, Irene Marcos Alaleda, has at least $13.2 billion in secret bank accounts in Switzerland, and the money has been laundered by transferring it to multiple bank accounts in Luxembourg and elsewhere.
According to estimates in foreign presses, Marcos' personal wealth is equivalent to almost one-third of the Philippines' external debt. In 1984, Imelda took control of 30 highly profitable companies, including $3 billion in secret accounts with Swiss banks.
In addition to his huge bank deposits, Marcos also has his own properties in the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries. In New York it's worth 3$500 million in four properties, in addition to hotels, office buildings, residential buildings and other properties.
Even the faucets in one of Marcos' residences in Manhattan, New York, are gilded. It is surprising that such a huge amount of wealth can be found all over the world.
The Philippines has always believed that Marcos abused his power to embezzle a large amount of state property during the 20 years of his rule. Former Philippine Senator Hovito Saronga has opposed Marcos and has been working to recover the Marcos family's illicit wealth.
He revealed that they found many documents from Marcos' official residence, which were enough to prove that the Marcos family's vast wealth was illegal. According to Hovito Salonga, the Marcos family's illegal enrichment was carried out in a variety of ways, including setting up franchises controlled by Marcos' allies, issuing loans through state banks, taking over large corporations with small amounts of money, directly embezzling money from the state treasury and state banks, and demanding commissions or kickbacks from businesses.
In response to questions and accusations from the outside world, Imelda denied that her wealth came from illegal channels, only emphasizing that Marcos is very smart, good at investing, believing in **, and investing**.
Marcos, she said, had been a precious metals businessman before he entered politics, and he used his ingenuity to invest and get rich to better serve his country.
When Imelda was asked about the Marcos family's wealth, she replied: "I can't say exactly, all the assets have been confiscated and frozen. "During Marcos's administration, the Philippines spent less on the budget than during Corazon's tenure, but they have made remarkable progress in infrastructure development.
For example, they have built 1 million miles of roads, irrigated 3 million hectares of land, and made the Philippines a rice exporter. At the same time, they have also electrified villages and cities, improved people's education, and built a large number of public facilities such as public hospitals and cultural centers.
However, the Marcos family's vast wealth is also true, and Imelda's response fails to fully explain its **. Marcos's political achievements stand in stark contrast to his family's wealth, which explains why some oppose the Marcos family while others strongly support Imelda.
In 2018, the Philippine Anti-Corruption Tribunal found Imelda guilty of seven counts of corruption and issued an arrest warrant.
Under these seven crimes, Imelda could face between six years and one month and 11 years in prison. After returning to the Philippines after going into exile in Hawaii, Imelda has been barred from returning to the Philippines, with Coe Aquino at the time insisting that it was out of *** considerations.
It was not until 1990 that the Philippines** lifted the five-and-a-half-year-old ban on Mrs. Marcos and her children from returning to the Philippines. In fact, at that time, the Philippine economy was in a difficult situation due to the double whammy of natural and man-made disasters.
Foreign exchange earnings have fallen sharply, serious economic losses have been suffered, the total industrial output value has dropped sharply, and a large number of people affected by the disaster still need to be resettled.
Imelda's return and political activities have sparked many controversies over the Philippines**, Imelda herself, and the Marcos family's property. In this context, the lifting of the ban on Imelda seems to be aimed at helping the Philippines recover some of the property embezzled by the Marcos family in order to cope with the difficulties in the development of the domestic economy.
Despite losing two ** races, Imelda still received about 2 million votes, which shows that her influence in the country is still great.
Imelda's success was due in part to her campaign highlighting Marcos' contributions to the Philippines and her eventual repatriation of Marcos' body. Despite two unsuccessful races**, Imelda still ran for parliament, serving as a parliamentarian from 1995 to 1998, gaining the support of the poor.
Imelda later lived a low-key life and hardly participated in politics anymore. Overall, Imelda's life is full of legends, she is known as the "Iron Butterfly", not only is she both talented and beautiful, she has great political strength, but also has a tenacious and unyielding spirit.
She has made many contributions in the Philippines, but she has also amassed a huge fortune as a result, and this image is both charismatic and controversial, making her an important female figure in the world.