For former First Lady Imelda Marcos, last week’s proclamation of her son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., as the country’s next president was an “adrenaline rush.”
“I have two presidents!” Mrs. Marcos said after her son presented her a copy of the resolution of the Commission on Elections proclaiming his victory.
The remark of the 92-year-old Imelda was captured in a video clip that was part of the president-elect’s latest video blog on Youtube.
In the next clip, the 64-year-old Marcos Jr. could be seen telling his mother: “These are all for you and Daddy.”
The Marcos patriarch, Ferdinand Sr., died in 1989, three years after being removed from office by the People Power Revolution in February 1986.
“I was surprised because I saw her (Imelda) approaching and when I turned around, she was already on the stage,” Marcos Jr. said, recalling how his mother was able to join him on stage during his proclamation.
“I wondered how she was able to get up on the stage. And it turned out that when people were helping her and asking her to use the wheelchair, she refused and insisted she could do it.”
“She was smiling from ear to ear. It was a joyous moment. I think the adrenaline rush powered her through,” Marcos Jr. said in his vlog.
Earlier, his sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, said their mother was “extra excited”—so much so that her ailments seem to have disappeared.
“She’s suddenly able to hear, to walk. All of her ailments during COVID-19 seem to have vanished. She’s very energetic…It’s like she’s no longer 92 but 29,” the senator said.
Imelda, who will turn 93 in July, has openly declared her wish for Marcos Jr. to seek the presidency.
“Bongbong is well-educated and he is prepared,” she said in a Kyodo News interview in 2013.
“I’d be privileged and happy, not only because I’m the mother, but because he was molded, even as a child, in an atmosphere of service to people. He knows exactly an idea of what leadership is,” she added.
In an interview after his proclamation, Marcos Jr. said he was “humbled” by his victory as he promised to “strive for perfection” as the country’s 17th Chief Executive.
“I want to do well because when a President does well, the country does well, and I want to do well for this country,” he said.
“I am humbled because for anyone in public service or in a public life, the most valuable you may receive from fellow citizens is their vote because embedded in that vote are their hopes and aspirations for the future. Also embedded in that vote are the trust and confidence that they give to you to take them to that aspirational future. And that is why to have received over 31 million votes from our countrymen is as valuable an expression of trust as can be had by anyone in public life,” Marcos Jr. added.