Imee Marcos - Most Vocal Defender of Martial Law

Most Vocal Defender of Martial Law

Imee Marcos is the most vocal defender of martial law and her father, the late Ferdinand Marcos. In her most recent pronouncements, she said: "The best roads and bridges were built during martial law. Even the movies then were very good."

In his book "Martial Law Diary: Part 1", Ex-Navy Captain Danilo Vizmanos, wrote a scathing remark on the controversial martial law era under Marcos. Citing the heroism of Liliosa Hilao, who was raped, tortured and murdered by the military under Marcos, he wrote: "For the single crime that Marcos and his gangsters have committed on the brave but defenseless Liliosa, a million kilometers of paved roads and all the gimmicks they have come up with cannot erase from the (memory of) Filipino people such an abominable crime that will forever serve as the dark legacy of the New Society."

1n 2005, Imee Marcos took offense at the Arroyo government's subtle reference to the country spending one-third of its annual budget to service debts largely incurred during Ms. Marcos' late dictator-father regime. She claimed that in no way could the accumulated debt be the fault of her dead father. Commentator Jojo Robles of the Manila Standard Today cited the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant—the nation's single biggest debt and incurred during Marcos administration—which took 10 years to build at a cost of US$2.3billion, and which to this day has not produced a single watt of electricity. Mr. Robles said: "In this time of ever-escalating debt and oil prices, someone should tell Imee Marcos to get a grip on reality before absolving her father and his men...we're still paying the costs of Marcos the Elder's kleptocracy, whether in the form of higher power costs because of an unused power plant or unending payments incurred by a thieving regime."

There were several accusations of atrocities directed to Imee Marcos' security guards during martial law. In a university open forum conducted by Ms. Marcos on August 1977, Archimedes Trajano was forcibly taken by Imee Marcos' personal guards after he posted a question which embarrassed Ms. Marcos. Archimedes Trajano's body was found several days later, tortured and beaten to death. Trajano's family was among those awarded by the U.S. Federal Court in Hawaii, for damages for human rights violation covering torture, disappearances, and murder attributed to the military or the Marcos family during the Marcos dictatorship. The Trajano family meanwhile (as of 25 September 2006) has yet to see a penny of this compensation.

Imee Marcos is widely criticized for taking the lead in street protests in defense of human rights abuses which they say is out character for a daughter of a former dictator whose regime was well known for its brutal violations of human rights.