MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Imelda Marcos, the Philippines’ former first lady, mother of the current president and widow of the deposed dictator, has been hospitalized with pneumonia.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Tuesday that his 94-year-old mother has mild pneumonia and her doctors have put her on antibiotics.
He was attending the Asia Summit in Melbourne, Australia, and said in a statement that his mother was “in good spirits” and “had no difficulty breathing.”
The president’s sister, Senator Imee Marcos, told reporters that her mother had suffered multiple bouts of fever and cough and was hospitalized for observation.
Imelda Marcos lived a life of luxury amidst the abject poverty of her people and became a symbol of her husband’s authoritarian regime. The regime ended in 1986 when an army-backed “People Power” rebellion overthrew him and exiled him and his family to the United States.
The ousted dictator died three years later in Hawaii. He has never admitted his crimes, including accusations that his family amassed a fortune of $5 billion to $10 billion during his time in office.
In 1991, the Marcos family returned to the Philippines and gradually regained political power despite committing looting and human rights atrocities under the leadership of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
In 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won the presidential election by a wide margin, a fact that the opposition attributed to a social media campaign that whitewashed the family’s political history.