MANILA >> The raucous rally was called by demonstrators to protest one of the biggest corruption scandals in the Philippines. One of the speakers was President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s older sister, who was expected to criticize the plundering of a public works budget under her brother’s watch.
But when the sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, took to the microphones, she stunned the crowd of tens of thousands. Her speech comprised a laundry list of accusations against her brother, including that he had been taking cocaine since childhood. She did not offer any proof to back up the claim.
“I knew he was using drugs,” Marcos said at the rally in Rizal Park in Manila on Nov. 17. She added that the supposed addiction was the reason for the “flood of corruption, the lack of direction and the many wrong decisions.”
Organizers abruptly cut short what had been planned as a three-day event. Her comments came as the corruption scandal has rocked Ferdinand Marcos’ presidency and ignited large protests that have evoked the demonstrations that toppled the siblings’ father, dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos. And, in recent months, Imee Marcos has aligned firmly with her brother’s chief political rival, Vice President Sara Duterte.
The current president, who is known by his childhood name, Bongbong, has denied his sister’s accusations, which echo claims made by former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“It’s anathema to talk about family matters in public,” he said, days after her outburst. “We do not like to show our dirty linen in public.” Then he took a swipe: “For a while now, we’ve been very worried about my sister.”
Don’t miss out on what’s happening!
Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It’s FREE!
Pressed for details in an interview with The New York Times, Imee Marcos did not present any details about the drug use but claimed a hair follicle test would prove it. Asked if she was calling for her brother’s resignation, she replied, “Perhaps, perhaps.”
The siblings projected unity during the campaign for the 2022 presidential election. Imee Marcos, 70, helped secure an alliance with Sara Duterte that delivered her brother a landslide. But after Ferdinand Marcos, 68, took office, policy disagreements fractured the political alliance and the siblings’ partnership.
“The present government’s become better known for being rudderless and corrupt, and it’s very sad for me to see that,” Imee Marcos said in the interview.
The youngest sibling, Irene Marcos, has stayed out of the fray.
“For Imee Marcos, by going against Bongbong, she’s saying: ‘You failed big time,’” said Antonio La Viña, a political commentator. “‘You have failed our father, not succeeded in reviving him. In fact, you made it worse because you’re now one of the most unpopular presidents in the Philippines.’”
Late last year, Imee Marcos urged her brother not to sign the 2025 national budget, flagging possible corruption in the public works allocation. In a national address in July, Ferdinand Marcos announced that funds had been misused.
The dramatic extradition of Rodrigo Duterte in March deepened the rift. Ferdinand Marcos complied with an overseas warrant for Duterte, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Imee Marcos called the arrest a case of foreign meddling and kidnapping.
When the Marcos-Duterte alliance splintered, Imee Marcos first tried to mediate but ultimately aligned with the Dutertes instead.
Imee Marcos says that she has no higher political ambitions.
Still, some analysts said she could have a political future after the end of her brother’s presidency, which is limited to one term under a constitution adopted after their father’s ouster.
Sara Duterte is the favorite to win the next election, and Imee Marcos could be positioning herself to be a candidate for vice president under her, according to Athena Charanne Presto, a political sociologist. Imee Marcos, she added, could even have ambitions of being president herself.
“She realized that if she’s not going to make a move, she will forever be that presidential relative,” Presto said of Marcos, “the sister or the daughter.”
———
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
© 2025 The New York Times Company