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ARCHIVE
A Tribute To The Late: President Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos (Part I) Memories:
In college, Marcos' motto was ideal of education, "mens sana in corpore sano." His record of excellence as a student was not confined to the classroom. Marcos won letters in the University, boxing, swimming and wrestling teams. Already the national champion in small-bore weapons, he joined the newly formed ROTC and won the rank of cadet major. He won the first gold medal offered by General MacArthur for proficiency in military science. Youth is a time for causes, and Marcos was at the forefront of student protests, first against the Commonwealth leadership itself. His forensic baritone enlivened the school debating team. He became the most be-medalled debater, at one time winning the President Quezon Medal for oratory. He was awarded the University President's medal for obtaining the highest scholastic average over the full course of his college work.
But the demands on the young student's time of leadership and sports took their toll. He lost his scholarship. This set off a crisis, for the election campaigns of Mariano Marcos had drained the family till. Ferdinand took advantage of the first elections of the new Commonwealth government to go to the province and eke out some tuition money from his grandmother. Little did he know that he would be involved in one of the most celebrated trials in Philippine history.
After tasting early success, Ferdinand's father had twice lost the Congressional seat to Julio Nalundasan. The new elections pitted the two once more, and again Mariano lost. Three nights after the elections, Nalundasan was brushing his teeth when a .22 bullet ripped through his body. The main suspects were the Marcoses. A few days before Christmas of 1938, Marcos calmly sat at his evening review classes. In a few months he was set to graduate and the honor of being conferred magna cum laude awaited him. Then Constabulary soldiers broke into his room and arrested him on the charge of murdering Nalundasan. The resultant trial was a national sensation. In the dark cell of the Laoag jail, Marcos mustered enough courage and energy to study for his coming bar examinations. Outside the jail, he was the main cog in organizing his own defense in the courts. Marcos was at last writing history, but at the same time risking his career. Defeated in the lower courts, he appealed his case before the Supreme Court. Through technically still not a lawyer, he obtained permission to argue his own defense. As he refuted the testimony of the state witness against him, newspaper headlines screamed of his topping the examinations with the highest marks ever achieved in the history of the Philippine bar. A short while later, the Supreme Court acquitted him. Unlikely Match, But A Perfect Partnership: In the light of destiny, the marriage of Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Romualdez could not have been anything but propitious. Had he married someone else, circumstances today might have been different. But as fate would have it, Marcos, already 36, didn't marry until the lovely Rose of Tacloban came along.
The year was
1954, during Marcos' second term in the House of Representatives. On the
evening that Speaker Pro Tempore Daniel Z. Romualdez was to preside over
the House session (in the absence of the Speaker), Mrs. Romualdez with
Imelda, a niece, in town came to watch.
The match seemed
unlikely, for both were politically apart as they were geographically
remote, He was a Liberal and an Ilokano, she was a Nacionalista by family
tradition and a Visayan. Yet Marcos pursued Imelda. She had ignored
him at first, thinking him brash and impetuous. But the sincerity of
his intentions impressed her, and after 11 days of courtship she accepted
him. A civil marriage took place in Baguio, where Marcos had
followed up his proposal during Imelda's trip for the Holy Week. Two
weeks later, on May 1, 1954, the couple were married at the Pro
Cathedral of San Miguel in Manila. The event was publicized as the
Wedding of the Year. Standing as principal sponsor was President
Ramon Magsaysay, who gave the break fast reception in Malacanang Palace.
President
Ferdinand E. Marcos Little did anyone
realize that the marriage would be more than just a union of man and wife.
It has turned out to be a perfect partnership. And this fact now
confirms more than ever Marcos' prophetic sense of his destiny. For
in choosing Imelda, he in effect succeeded in broadening the
political base on which he was to launch his conquest of the Presidency.
The wisdom of his choice gained more significance when he won the
Presidency. For in Imelda, there emerged the inspiring wife who was
not decorative but who worked to invest her position with a relevance to
her husband's leadership. As First Lady, she busied herself with
social welfare and cultural projects that complemented the President's
accomplishments in economics and foreign affairs. No other First
Lady has been able to fill the role with such distinction.
The First
Family
Through a restless bachelor
in his youth, Ferdinand E. Marcos settled easily into domesticity after
his marriage. He renovated the house in San Juan, a residential
suburb east of Manila, and added a wing to his law office to spend as much
time as he could with his family. After tough days in Congressional
halls, Marcos came to look forward to quiet evenings with his family
discussing domestic affairs with the First Lady or playing with the
children.
The
First Couple decided on a small family and according spaced the births of
their children contrary to the common Filipino practice of having a baby
almost every year. Their first child Imelda, nicknamed Imee was born
1955, when Marcos was a Congressman. Three years later, a son was
born, Ferdinand Jr., affectionately called Bongbong. A second
daugther, Irene, was born in 1960 as Marcos was beginning his first term
in the Senate.
------------------------------------- Despite the burdens of Presidency, Marcos spends as much time as he can with the children. Usually at his desk before sunrise, he joins the children at breakfast and sees them off to school. Bongbong once called him up to say that he would be playing football on that afternoon. The President happily cleared his desk and, like any proud father, rooted for his son in the field. The happiest times for the First Couple are vacation days when the children arrive and the family becomes whole again.
-------------------------- MORE ARTICLES... * Tribute to the Late President
Ferdinand Marcos Part I
Salamat po sa inyong pagdalaw dito. |
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