Newly-elected Senator Imee Marcos said in an interview today that there were “resounding successes” achieved during her father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law regime.
Imee said this during an interview on the ANC show Headstart, where she also said that she was done answering questions regarding her decision to falsify her educational background.
Critics hounded Imee for most of her campaign because of her family’s history. Her father ruled the Philippines for 21 years, a time remembered for its numerous human rights violations and massive corruption. Meanwhile, her mother, Imelda Marcos, is known for her flamboyant lifestyle and was convicted of graft in November but remains at large.
In her interview on ANC this morning, Imee said that during President Marcos’ administration, which started in 1965 and ended in 1986, the Philippines produced enough rice that enabled it to export the product to other countries.
“The rice policy was clearly a resounding success,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino. “We were exporting rice big time. From 1978 we were sending rice to Indonesia, to Pakistan. The whole world was coming to the Philippines to study [at the International Rice Research Institute]. We were a rock star. After that, we became the ones importing [rice], we were begging other countries to sell us rice.”
She also credited her father for his various projects. “A lot of infrastructures were built that are being used up to this day,” she said.
However, according to Businessworld, the Philippines only exported rice for four years, from 1979 to 1981, and in 1987 when the president was already Corazon Aquino.
In the same interview, Imee also avoided questions about her educational background. During the campaign, critics lambasted Imee for claiming that she graduated from the University of the Philippines’ (UP) law school and Princeton University, despite statements from both institutions which said that she did not graduate from their institutions.
When host Karen Davila brought up the suggestion of another newly-elected senator, Pia Cayetano, that Imee should address the issue, Imee said that she just wanted to move past it.
“The campaign is over. Those things should be put on the wayside, those criticisms. There’s a lot of work to be done. I’ve answered that a gazilion times,” she said.
“What I said is, as far as I know, I have so many classmates at the UP College of Law. What we understood was that we graduated. I hope that [issue] will be put on the wayside, stop those [rumors] and let’s get straight to work. The election is over. We have [heard] the voice of the people, we have been voted in,” she said.
She lamented: “I don’t know how I should answer that correctly anymore.”
Shortly after her inauguration last week, Imee said that critics don’t really bother her. “I’m always been hit with so many issues. That’s fine. [We’re a] punching bag. My family is used to it,” she told reporters covering the inauguration.
