5-3-2024 (MANILA) Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines, widow of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr, and mother of the current president, has been admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, in a statement from Melbourne where he is attending an Asian summit, informed the public that his 94-year-old mother is undergoing treatment for slight pneumonia and has been administered antibiotics by her medical team.
Despite the health setback, President Marcos assured that his mother is “in good spirits” and is experiencing no significant difficulty in breathing, adding that she is resting well. The announcement came as the president addressed concerns about Imelda Marcos’s health, emphasizing that the situation was being closely monitored by healthcare professionals.
Senator Imee Marcos, the sister of President Marcos, provided additional details to reporters, mentioning that their mother had experienced bouts of fever and coughing, prompting a decision to admit her to the hospital for thorough observation and medical care.
Imelda Marcos’s extravagant lifestyle during her husband’s authoritarian rule became synonymous with the excesses of the Marcos regime, which came to an end with the 1986 “people power” uprising that ousted Ferdinand Marcos Sr. The family went into exile in the United States, where the former dictator died in Hawaii three years later, maintaining his innocence despite allegations of amassing an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion during his time in power.
The Marcos family returned to the Philippines in 1991 and gradually regained political influence, despite widespread accusations of plunder and human rights abuses during Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s regime. In a dramatic political comeback in 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr secured a landslide victory in the presidential race. Critics argued that he leveraged a well-funded social media campaign to sanitize the family’s political history and secure the top post.
