Imee, Bongbong old enough during martial law years, says solon

Imee and Bongbong Marcos turned 18 in 1973 and 1975, respectively, old enough to have witnessed the atrocities committed during the “conjugal dictatorship” of their parents, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent remarks.

Mr. Duterte on Friday suggested that the two Marcos heirs were too young to have been complicit in the human rights violations documented during the Marcos regime.

“What wrong did they do? Why won’t I go there, shake hands? What did Imee do wrong? All of them were young, the only adults there were Imelda and Ferdinand,” Mr.  Duterte said in an interview by the government TV station.

But Lagman took note of the ages of former Sen. Bongbong Marcos and his sister, Ilocos Sur Gov. Imee Marcos, and said that the President could not absolve them as sinless “because they have been for a long time and until now culpable beneficiaries of the ill-gotten hoard of their father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.”

He added: “Although they were teenagers when martial law was declared in September 1972, they attained the age of majority shortly after … and were already adults during the height of the martial law regime.”

The House opposition leader said that “Imee and Bongbong celebrated their 18th birthdays in 1973 and 1975, respectively, and were old enough when the documented atrocities and plunder were committed by the conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.”

Ferdinand Marcos became President in 1965. His eldest, Imee, was born in 1955, while namesake Bongbong was born in 1957.

Trajano murder

Lagman also recalled Imee’s alleged involvement in the murder of student Archimedes Trajano in 1977.

“When Imee Marcos headed the Kabataang Barangay after she was handpicked by then President Marcos, she was accused of the murder of Archimedes Trajano who was reportedly killed by her security escorts and found dead two days after an open forum, where Trajano challenged (her) credentials,” the Albay representative said.

On Aug. 31, 1977, the student from Mapua Institute of Technology had asked about Imee Marcos’ qualifications to lead the national youth group during a forum at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Lagman said.

In 1991, the Hawaii District Court awarded $4.16 million to the Trajano family, a ruling affirmed by the US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit Court in 1992, the opposition congressman said.

“(But) the effort of the Trajano family to enforce in the Philippines the foreign judgment was quashed by the Philippine Supreme Court on the technicality of a defective substituted service of summons to Imee Marcos who claimed that she was then a resident of Singapore when the summons was served at Alexandra Homes in Pasig City, her reported address,” the Albay representative added.