TIMELINE: The sibling rivalry of Bongbong and Imee Marcos
BONGBONG AND IMEE MARCOS composite image from INQUIRER FILE
Over the years since their downfall in 1986, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his elder sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, marched in lockstep for a single aspiration–to restore their name to the pedestal it once occupied.
As local executives and eventually, lawmakers, the two consolidated power for their biggest political comeback: Bongbong becoming the president while Imee was in the Senate.
However, as years passed, the bond between the two, which seemed to be so stable, began to crack as the UniTeam between Bongbong and Vice President Sara Duterte, which Imee once described as a “marriage made in heaven,” splintered.
Imee had said she and her brother do not have a problem, but last March, she shared that she has not talked to her brother in a long time, claiming that there are a lot of people preventing them from communicating with each other.
“Nakakaloka,” Imee even said when former President Rodrigo Duterte accused Bongbong of drug use. “I am not involved there. Let them be, they can handle that themselves. It’s driving me crazy, that’s all I can say,” she said.
READ: Sen. Imee on brother’s alleged use of illegal drugs: ‘Nakakaloka’
But almost two years later, as she addressed thousands of members of the Iglesia ni Cristo who are calling for “transparency and accountability” in the middle of the flood control scandal, Imee claimed Bongbong is addicted to drugs.
Her allegation, however, was immediately dismissed by Malacañang, with Palace Press Officer Claire Castro asking Imee about her motive for her accusations against Bongbong, his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, and their children.
“If you are really pro-Filipino and patriotic, Sen. Imee, then help in the investigation. Those involved have to be identified. The people responsible have to be pinpointed. Don’t attack your brother. That is not the issue right now,” she said.
The rift, indeed, has now played out in public view, mirroring an intense divide within the bloodline of the late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., whose almost 21-year regime was brought down in 1986.
But the tension did not emerge overnight.
• July 2022: Imee said she was perplexed by her brother’s veto of a bill seeking to create a Bulacan Airport City Ecozone, pointing out her concern that the proposal “may not have been reviewed well, or someone played smart.
READ: Imee Marcos puzzled by Bongbong’s veto of Bulacan airport ecozone bill
• December 2022: She said she has reservations over her brother’s proposal to establish the Maharlika Wealth Fund, expressing concern on “what will happen to us,” especially considering the economic status of the Philippines and the looming economic recession.
RELATED STORY: Despite reservations about MIF, Imee appeals support for Bongbong Marcos
• February 2023: Bongbong released a statement to mark the 37th anniversary of the EDSA Revolution, stressing the need to “settle our differences.” Imee, however, said the date her father was ousted from Malacañang is a day she will never be able to celebrate.
READ: Imee Marcos skips hometown festival, saying it coincided with Edsa revolution anniversary
As pointed out by Maria Ela Atienza, a professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Imee may have already decided to place her lot with the other side of the “political elite.”
“It is a case of sibling rivalry playing out in public,” she told INQUIRER.net.
Trigger
Imee had said she has no rift with Bongbong, even saying last February that in the falling out between her brother and Sara, “I do not have any desire to attack and defend either side.”
READ: Imee won’t take sides in rift between Bongbong, Sara
“That is very political and will not help (address the issues at hand),” she stated.
But when Sara’s father was arrested by the International Criminal Court in March for crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs, the cracks in their relationship got bigger.
• March 2025: Imee said she was taken aback by the former president’s arrest. “I could not believe it,” she pointed out as she expressed sympathy for the older Duterte. “We haven’t learned a thing. This will only result in chaos,” she said.
READ: Duterte ICC arrest: Imee says Senate panel found ‘glaring lapses’
As the chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Imee initiated an investigation of the arrest and eventually claimed that based on its findings, there were “glaring violations,” insisting that the government had no obligation to make the arrest and surrender Diterte.
Back then, Imee was campaigning for her reelection bid as part of Bongbong’s Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas, but on March 14, a few days after the arrest, Imee skipped a campaign event, saying that she “cannot accept what was done to Duterte.”
READ: Imee Marcos skips admin sortie: ‘I can’t accept what was done to Duterte’
A week later, in Cavite, Bongbong skipped her sister’s name when he introduced the administration’s slate, making Imee “clueless” if she was still part of the team endorsed by the President, considering that in the next day, Bongbong once again omitted her sister’s name.
Imee claimed Bongbong got upset with her over the investigation.
READ: Marcos again skips mention of sis Imee in Alyansa sortie
A few weeks before the elections, Imee slipped out of the “Top 12” in pre-election surveys, a fall that immediately drew the attention of political analysts, who pointed out that the sudden drop was more than a statistical shift.
They said it was a sign that her balancing act between criticizing and defending her brother’s administration was no longer working with voters, especially since her messaging was split between loyalty and opposition.
So in April, Imee made a stand.
• April 2025: Imee released a political advertisement with an endorsement from Sara, saying that she heeded the latter’s idea of having “black” as the theme of the campaign, especially considering that her brother is “treadong the wrong path.”
RELATED STORY: Imee Marcos’ black campaign apt, ‘shows grim future’ – groups
• July 2025: Imee, wearing black, said she will not attend the State of the Nation Address of Bongbong, saying that she was standing with the Duterte Bloc in the Senate.
• October 2025: Imee questioned Bongbong’s appointment of then Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla as the new Ombudsman.
