PROLOGUE

The Chink in the Image

IN THE EARLY MORNINGof December 30, 1965, a few hundred Filipinos milled around the suburban residence of President-elect Ferdinand E. Marcos. They came in all manner of transport, from distant and nearby provinces, attracted by publicity on the celebrated beauty of the First Lady-to-be, Imelda Romualdez Marcos. She was, newspapers said, as beautiful as an actress and had once held the title of Miss Manila. The spectators were mostly humble Filipinos who had sacrificed an hour’s sleep to be ahead of the thousands who would be in historic Luneta for the inaugural rites. They perched on trees and scaled the concrete wall to get a good view of the courtyard where Marcos and Imelda were to make an appearance.

So determined were they on this immediate task that it would have been futile to persuade them to give some thought to the virtues of the man they had elected to be their President for the next four years. The spectators of that morning were archetypal common folk, with a reputation for lethargy in the most trying social and economic circumstances. They seemed doomed by fate not to care beyond what was immediate and to hand. That day they had come to see Imelda. This was the good show they preferred to remonstrations that there were other things more politically significant than the reputed beauty of a First Lady. This preoccupation by the masses with what is trite and shallow seemed their quintessential tragedy.

The curtains were about to be raised on a drama in which the beautiful Imelda, whom they had traveled miles to see, would play a stellar role. They had assumed the role of spectators, unaware that the plot of the story about to begin would be played out at their expense. When the end came, alas . . . the early birds would have much to regret about that seemingly innocent morning. But this is going years ahead. The task then was to secure the best vantage point to see the proceedings in the courtyard, which was partially shielded by the profuse foliage of an acacia tree.

Members of the Marcos and Romualdez families and their friends were gathered around an improvised altar decorated with white gladiolas. A German priest, Father Albert Gansewinkle, was saying mass exclusively for the family before the official rites.

[Corruption in the Philippines] Imelda Marcos The Rise and Fall of One of the Worlds Most Powerful Women #3/212