Whatever Carmen Navarro-Pedrosa missed out in her first two Imelda books, THE UNTOLD STORY OF IMELDA MARCOS (1969) and THE RISE AND FALL OF IMELDA MARCOS (1989), she made sure she fills in the holes for her final installment in the “Imelda Trilogy.” IMELDA ROMUALDEZ MARCOS: THE VERDICT (2016) continues the intriguing saga of the woman whose life started in the garage to becoming one of the most powerful and richest women in the world, and digs further deeper as she faced the stinging music of justice in foreign shores. Like her first two biographies, this final offering is as gripping and utterly consuming as one goes to court with Imelda. As the evidences reveal how deep the Marcos’ corruptions were during their reign, one can’t help not to wonder how justice still turned a blind eye.
After their escape from Malacanang on February 1986, the Marcoses fled to Hawaii – led by an ailing patriarch and a matriarch with cranes of jewelries, a bagful of gold bars, an enourmous stash of cash (in 100-peso bills) and diapers. Soon after, Ferdinand died in September of 1989 and in 1990 Imelda faced the US justice system for the crimes she was said to have committed in New York. The charges here were that she and her late husband looted more than $160 Million from the Philippine treasury, invested the money to New York real-estate properties, and defrauded American banks along the way. Known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Act (RICO), the former First Lady faced a set of jurors for her acts of racketeering and the transfer of money from the Philippines to the US, and more so, how it was moved from state to state.
Pedrosa, in 1990, after having published the internationally acclaimed RISE AND FALL OF IMELDA MARCOS, was living as a mother and an advocate in London. After she received a call from Malacañang requesting her to be the government’s spokesperson in Imelda’s trial, she flew to New York with a prayer that everything ends well for the Filipinos.
Thus, THE VERDICT becomes Pedrosa’s semi-autobiography. It chronicles her life as a journalist to an eventual exile during the Marial Law, and how she continually sees herself in Imelda’s cunning circle. Here, we get the sit with her inside the courthouse with Imelda and her team of lawyers, as she observes and represents the Philippine government during the trial.
But THE VERDICT, covers more than just the New York trial. As Pedrosa prepares her readers for the penultimate chapter, she establishes the hidden background of political maneuverings that spanned from the 60s to late 80s. In its intial chapters, THE VERDICT recounts the history of a known ruling class and how this class influenced the rising couple to fight and be considered for their powers.
I remember my father telling me about how rich the Lopezes were (and still are) when I was six years old. He would tell me that they would have a fountain of champagne in the middle of their festivities, and that the rich and famous took their bottomless share of Dom Perignon and Moet Chandon. In Pedrosa’s first chapter, KEEPING UP WITH THE LOPEZES, the author verifies this fact as she describes the unforgettably lavish Ruby Anniversary. She was there, with her husband who was then an executive for Meralco Securities Corporation. As the country’s prime magnates, Don Eugenio Hofileña Lopez, Sr. and Doña Pacita Moreno Lopez, set up this most lavish celebration of their wedding anniversary in 1968 not to impress the international press, nor their jet-setting friends, but to set the line between the Lopez empire and the rising Marcos government. But Pedrosa doesn’t stop there, in her opening chapter, she recalls the Lopez’ family history of political manoeuverings and their continuing ties with the previous administrations. Here, the author digs deeper and chronicles the Lopez-Marcos partnership and how it turned sour through the years.
THE VERDICT also recollects the steaming Dovie Beams scandal, its outrageous revelations to the media and its effect on Marcos and Imelda’s relationship. In the second chapter, THE AFFAIR, Pedrosa chronicles in vivid detail the terrifying revelations which made me cringe on my seat. However a thing of the past, this inclusion in THE VERDICT supports the author’s desire to connect the dots that will ultimately explain why Imelda’s corruptive psyche grew bigger than that of Marcos’.
This closing instalment also recounts the Ninoy Aquino assasination. I must say that this is the most compelling chapter of them all. Here, the author investigates the August 21 assassination and draws a web of interconnected facts which make the Marcoses the prime suspects. She ends this portion with a rather intelligent query as to why the Filipinos still haven’t had the justice from this 1983 tragedy. Even after having two Aquinos in Malacañang, we still haven’t reached a verdict that would somehow appease the Filipino and empower the country with an answer. That is because, as Pedrosa states, “justice for Ninoy is justice for all.”
But what makes this final installment more gripping, is its detailed account of the evidences presented in Judge John F. Kennan’s courtroom back in 1990. Pedrosa, through her engaging commentary, summarizes the documents (approximately 300,000) that would support prosecutors Debra Ann Livington and Charles La Bella’s case against Imelda. In THE VERDICT, the author generously shares, not just the figures, but the actual photos of the documents and sketches presented in the courthouse. This detailed narrative explores the acquisition of prime real-estate properties, from Crown Building in New York to the selling of 660 Park Avenue. It also presents the complex 6 feet x 9 feet flowchart that explained the flow and transfer of cash from the Philippines to unknown accounts in the US. This chapter also recollects Oscar Cariño’s testimony, which asserted that Imelda’s personal secretary delivered bundles of money to her whenever she visits New York. These bundles would normally be at least $100,000.00 (an enormous amount during its time, actually way way bigger than it is now), just for her shopping sprees alone. Along these are the New York withdrawals that totalled to at least $14.5 million in cash, and $6,671,919 of it went to jewelries purchased from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels.
Pedrosa doesn’t disregard Imelda’s conventional flair for dramatics. In this book, we remember how good she is when it comes to crying and shedding tears anytime she wanted to. We also witness how she vomitted in the courtroom and was rushed to the hospital, during a prosecution’s cross-examination. She was nearly 60 at that time, and the international press, presented her as the mourning widow – somewhat diminishing the fact that she was (and still is) a ruthless example of corruptive power and abuse.
Reading this chapter can be as compelling as Pedrosa’s previous books on Imelda, but it ends with a daunting denoument. We all know how ended. Imelda was acquitted – something that she still proudly proclaims to this day – and the Philippines had lost its first battle against the Marcoses. But Pedrosa’s account of the courtroom events, the evidences presented, as well as the kind of jury that reached the verdict in 1990, justifiably presents a totally agreeable argument as to why these shocking result came about.
I can just imagine Pedrosa in New York in the early 90s. Alone, yet independent; and in her independency she silently grieved the verdict that came.
What makes this book different from the first two instalments is its unbiased stance on the Philippine political system, its machinery and history. For someone who has read the first two Imelda books, this one further scopes out and balances the “Imelda premise” by examining other factors that made the Marcoses the historical nightmare that they are. In THE VERDICT, Pedrosa widens her range and scrutinizes, not just the Marcoses, but also the continuing political machinery where the media is one great player. Also, in this book, we understand Pedrosa’s sentiments after the EDSA revolution, and how this peaceful, yet transforming gathering, was just a moment in our history, and that we all went back to what we were before immediately after the dust had settled.
As Pedrosa closes her lifetime of writing Imelda’s story, one can just give pride to how one author/journalist has gathered up enough courage to write the truth and face the consequences thereafter. Starting with the shocking commentaries in the UNTOLD STORY OF IMELDA MARCOS (1969) up to the more comprehensive THE RISE AND FALL OF IMELDA MARCOS (1989); and even after as she closes this chapter in her life with THE VERDICT (2016), Pedrosa’s journey still continues. I wish her well.
As with Imelda, her life continues, too. Her comeback in the Philippines back in the early 90s after the New York acquittal, and her family’s continuing presence in our government and in our midst, continue to present a threat to our future as a country and as a People.
Pedrosa and I may not have the same political stance, especially in the coming elections. I may not agree with her other opinions in the past years, but we, at least, have one thing that we totally agree on: and that is having a Marcos in Malacañang is a political nightmare and a lesson that we can easily get away with, only if we always remember what this family did to our People. If only we don’t forget.
So even if another Marcos is running and is likely to be our next Vice President, I say, “NEVER AGAIN!”
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IMELDA ROMUALDEZ MARCOS: THE VERDICT will be out of the market very soon. It will also be available in eBook format and will be purchasable via Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
If you’re interested to get an advanced copy of the book prior to the local release, please visit the author’s Facebook Page by clicking here.
