Photos courtesy of MARCOS PRESIDENTIAL CENTER

It was good to see the family matriarch, my aunt Imelda Romualdez Marcos, again at her daughter Senator Imee R. Marcos’ belated Chinese New Year dinner last week. She was in good spirits and she still loves to share stories of her life and experiences. One very funny story was about her husband, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos (PFEM), during their whirlwind courtship that lasted a mere 11 days.

Ferdinand and Imelda met on the evening of April 6, 1954 when she, along with her cousin-in-law Paz Gueco Romualdez, picked up her cousin, Paz’s husband, then House Speaker Pro Tempore Daniel Z. Romualdez, at the old Legislative building, which is now the National Museum of Fine Arts. The young Marcos was in the midst of a filibuster of the budget that delayed the adjournment of the House. The young Imelda and Paz ended up waiting for Daniel at the house cafeteria where Imelda was introduced to the young congressman from Ilocos Norte. The young PFEM within 30 minutes proposed marriage to Imelda, which Imelda rebuffed for its sheer absurdity. But Marcos was resolute. He declared to his friends that he had found the woman he was going to marry.

Three days later, PFEM would see Imelda again in the middle of yet another filibuster but as soon as he saw Imelda enter the gallery at the session hall, the young congressman’s filibustering stopped—in midsentence in fact—and the house was finally able to get the national budget passed. As soon as the session adjourned, Marcos proceeded to where Imelda and her companions were seated to vie for her attention. Imelda by then was a renowned beauty after being crowned Muse of Manila during the Ms. Manila contest the previous year. Imelda was already a known beauty in Leyte even as a young child. No fiesta or parade was without a float with Imelda on it.

PFEM knew it would be difficult to woo the young lady from Tacloban, Leyte but he was undaunted. Imelda, who was always chaperoned by one of her siblings or cousins, was in the charge of her cousin Daniel and his wife Paz. She lived with them in their home on Dapitan Street in Quezon City. The rising star from the breakaway group of the Nacionalista Party, the Liberal Party, Marcos was known as a ladies’ man, thus considered unsuitable by Imelda’s protective cousin Daniel.

The war hero, then 36 years old, whom everyone “predicted [to do] great things,” was also described as “a Lothario… as a playboy, who had broken up love affairs with half a dozen girls…” Daniel never forgot his promise to his uncle, Imelda’s father Vicente Orestes, to take care of “Meldy” as she sought a better life in the city.

When session adjourned, PFEM heard that Daniel and his family were taking a break in Hong Kong so, in pursuit of Imelda, he proceeded to buy his ticket to what was then a British colony (1841-1997), only to find out at the airport that Imelda, along with Daniel’s children, his in-laws and their husbands, and their children were to spend the Holy Week in Baguio. Marcos did not go to Hong Kong. Instead, he offered to drive Imelda’s group to the City of Pines. My uncle was relentless.

The Romualdez group stayed in the Speaker’s house in Congressional Hill while Marcos—who had been carrying a marriage license in his pocket for days—was billeted at Pines Hotel. My uncle would go to the Speaker’s house every day to play with the children, watch movies, go to church, and go on walks with the family at Burnham Park, all the while trying to convince my aunt to marry him— with matching pulling out of the marriage certificate from his pocket with pen for her to fill out and sign. My uncle’s wingman then was his friend Jose Guevara who had accompanied Marcos to Baguio, who never missed a chance to tell my aunt, “He is very good. He is promising!”

When I asked my aunt what stopped her from relenting, she said it was too fast and she was a probinsyana and my uncle had seen the world. Baka pinaglalaruan lang siya (Maybe he was just toying with her)—after all he was older than her by 13 years and was a ladies’ man. Nevertheless, Imelda was falling in love.

On Good Friday, my aunt was flailing. When my uncle asked her for the umpteenth time to marry him, Imelda could only say, “I need to tell my father first” to which my uncle replied, “We will tell him together, but later.” Still with reservation, as a few books on my aunt have documented, my aunt said, “This is too fast! How can I tell?” Marcos said, “But you like me, don’t you? It’s enough… you’ll learn to love me later. Follow me now, and I will follow you the rest of my life!”

Imelda followed.

My uncle and aunt were married by Justice Francisco Ma. Chanco, who was on standby as a favor to his smitten friend Ferdinand on Saturday, April 17, 1954 at 9 a.m. in La Trinidad Valley in Benguet. The marriage was on paper for now since my aunt insisted on a church wedding and the future was still uncertain since there was still the matter of telling not only her cousin Daniel but her father, my lolo Don Vicente Orestes Romualdez.

The drama of having to tell my lolo, the storm that ensued before their church wedding on May 1, 1954, especially after Ferdinand and Imelda’s marriage was picked up by the press, could rival any K-drama. Stay tuned!