Imee's
Double Life
Philippine Tatler July 2002
She's
larger than life and people just can't get enough of her. In a show stopping
pictorial, Imee Marcos portrays a woman living in a man's world. Going
head to head with MARGE ENRIQUEZ, she talks about how she makes the most
of the dual sides of her persona.
In true Marcos style, Imee is predictably, but fashionably late as she makes her grand entrance into the photographer's studio. Surrounded by helpers pushing a rack of expensive designer clothes, she makes a minor spectacle out of the trouble encountered on way to the shoot. Her mother would be proud.
As she sits in front of the make-up mirror, photographer Jun de Leon shows stylist Angelo Justin a photograph of a young model sporting a barely-there make-up look.
"That
kind of make-up is for the young," winces the 46-year-old congresswoman.
There's a reason for the look. The pictorial concept is about the masculine
and feminine sides of this Marcos scion. Imee has always been known as
her father's daughter - intelligent, articulate and aggressive. She attributes
her dominant masculine side to the fact that her father wanted his eldest
to be a son. Yet, she has acquired her mother's voluptuous figure, fashion
sense and theatricality, not to mention the same name.
"It's tricky when your male and female paragons are paradigmatic. My dad is like this strongman and my mom is this feminine figure. But both were very powerful," she says.
Imee always drew attention because her larger-than-life presence. During her law school days in the '70s at the University of the Philippines, Imee stood above the throng regardless whether her uniform was Kabtaang Barangay t-shirt or a man's shirt with rolled-up sleeves, paired with lean jeans and boots. Her long, lustrous wavy hair softened her masculine, square jaw. From butch chic in school, she would transform into a siren in Joe Salazar's ternos that displayed her cleavage and wasp waist.
Perhaps
this chameleon ability to switch from homme to femme is what made Imee
a gay icon. On the other hand, Imee's fag hag reputation is connected
to her company with artistes and designers who share her passion for the
"artsy-fartsy" stuff. In unguarded moments, Imee exudes hilarious
affectations. She is also admired for iconoclastic behavior, such as wearing
Ernest Santigo's outre' clothes with matching pomp and devil-may-care
attitude and dodging her bodyguards, much to her mother's consternation.
To break the ice, the interview begins with the hackneyed question: What's a typical day in the life of the congresswoman of Ilocos Norte's second district?
Exasperated by the triteness, she replies tartly, "There is no typical day working day. It's more like a typical working chaos. When you're doing district work in the province, breakfast doesn't look the same, simply because you're struggling with having no water to brush your teeth. I live in the Museum, the old section of my dad's house. It's pretty much falling down around me. I eat a farmer's breakfast - rice and big longganisas. I do inspections in the morning. I terrorize the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) and I inspect the schools, roads and bridges. I don't really inspect because I'm not really capable of inspecting. It's more of instilling the fear of God in their hearts. Or at least, the fear of the congresswoman."
She explains that her job is to make sure there is no funny business going on and that work is done according to schedule. After lunch at a barangay, she holds meetings with different departments until 6 p.m. Evenings are spent attending fiestas, beatuty contest and other town socials.
Compared with the unpredictability of district work, Batasang Pambansa is monotonous - a series of committee hearings, department visits and never-ending follow-ups of projects.
"Very boring. It doesn't make for very glamorous reading. My dad used to day government is 99 percent drudgery. It's salt mines. There is little inspiration involved," she heaves a sigh. "It's even worse, all the government agencies are not doing any policy formulation. There's no real 'wonking' in any interesting way. Everyone is on virtual survival mode. There's not much forward thinking."
Imee
explains it has taking 22 years for the government to provide incentives
to the overtaxed movie industry. A bill providing rebates to good films,
which she had authorized, was passed recently. Frustrated at how visions
and master plans are not always implemented, she remarks, "when there's
a public outcry, they'll say, 'We'll pass a law on that.'"
To her, Congress can be mostly a 'talking shop'. This is why her brother, Ferdinand Jr. ran for Ilocos Norte governor so he could effect changes.
Imee's entry into politics is a family duty. "It's typically Filipino. You are sent abroad to study and in the end you have to do time in the family firm. Unfortunately, our family operation is running for office. And it's not so much fun. I had just come home from Singapore in 1998, and he was running for governor. He needed somebody for the second district. He said it was going to be unwieldy if it weren't a Marcos. I happened to be the Marcos standing around, and was silly enough to agree."
Trying to get to know her better, we decided to ask a few personal questions, such as: How do relationships fit in solon's busy schedule?
"Do I need to answer questions like that? I'm not in the movie industry," she retorts.
What then, about gossip regarding her rumored cosmetic enhancement?
"Nobody's business either. I don't want to sound arrogant, but I think the American celebrities are good at this. They define the private areas," she answers.
Suddenly Imee is gleeful when the make-up artist brings out the Maybelline Great Lash Mascara. "Hey! I use that stuff," says the solon, who is known for exquisite taste, admitting she's a die-hard fan of a mass-market mascara.
Imee inspects her hair and make-up and pleads with the make-up artist to balance her features. "My chin is long and I have no forehead," she says.
Imee is more relaxed after half and hour of playtime with this writer. The interview finally gets to the story's core: How does macho Imee show her feminine side in a man's world like politics?
"I have this theory about my life: All the man's things come much easier than all the woman things like getting married (she is now separated) ad having children. This was such a drama, a big time production. All the guy stuff such as going to law school, being competitive, doing sports and working were much easier."
She proceeds to revel the woes of being in a female body, nonetheless, Imee admits that through time, she is more confident about showing her womanly side.
The solon, who chopped off her locks at the start of her political career, clears her throat as she talks about the virtues of femininity. "Being feminine is not being weak. I've lived with one of the strongest women on earth - my mom."
Imee
says that leadership now is no longer the authoritarian macho of the past.
"Leaders no longer have to be like my dad - the strongman with all
the answers. Today it is important to be consultative and to establish
a broad-based consensus. It worries people in Ilocos when I ask them,
'What do you think?' They get defensive and scared as if they haven't
done their work. They think the congresswoman doesn't know what she is
doing. We complain in government all the time that the enforcement of
law is the problem, not legislation. In the first place, decision making
is not invested in the barangay level. It's important for that kind of
leadership to come about. It's important for that kind of leadership to
come bout. The leader must be an enabler rather than the one on the frontline
carrying the flag. That's old-fashioned and that's certainly not a feminine
prototype."
Adding to that statement, she points out that the nurturing side of a woman has yet to be fully realized in both the political and corporate worlds. "When I entered Congress, I had to be this rational, fully-in-control person. That's wrong. They didn't get the idea. Mommy skills can be brought to Congress. There are young congressmen whom I'd like to help, so they won't make the same mistakes I did. They can cut short all the excess and can do more because at the end of the day, they are hope. If I can only be of help in mentoring and caring. I also have this adolescent side of me with raging hormones. That's why I'm sympathetic with the kids. That kind of skill doesn't come through with obvious leadership in capital letters.
Asked if
she'll go for the full three terms in Congress, Imee replies, "My
contract is till 2004. But you never say never again. This isn't my life.
I feel like I have this borrowed skin."