A searing public broadside by Senator Imee Marcos accusing her younger brother, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr, of using cocaine and cannabis has stunned the Philippines’ political establishment and intensified a bitter feud inside one of the country’s most powerful clans.
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Delivering her claims to a crowd of 600,000 at a rally organised by Iglesia ni Cristo – a religious group with historic ties to the Marcos family whose name translates to Church of Christ – Imee, 70, said she felt compelled by duty and conscience to expose her brother’s drug use, which she alleged began in his youth and continued to this day.
Reading from prepared remarks, Imee claimed that the president and his wife, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, had boasted of “microdosing”, dividing their intake throughout the day, and disguising their drug use as stem cell treatments and blood transfusions.
He doesn’t know any more what is happening
“His vice is the reason for rampant corruption, lack of direction, wrong decisions, absence of accountability and lack of justice in his government,” Imee said during her surprise Monday night appearance at the “Rally for Transparency and a Better Democracy” held in Manila’s Luneta Park.
“He doesn’t know any more what is happening. His minions no longer tell him and they are taking advantage of this by stealing massively from state funds.”
The senator further alleged that her brother was being used to “destroy” Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio and drew a pointed historical parallel to their father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Snr, who was toppled at age 68.
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“Bongbong is now 68,” she reminded the crowd.