Sen. Imee Marcos, the Super Ate ng Pangulo, is in a bind.
Despite her assertion of being “free and firm” and running as an independent in next month’s midterm elections, Senate President Francis Escudero has insinuated that she is using the legislative body for her personal and partisan political agenda.
As the May 12 balloting nears, her numbers in pre-election surveys continue to decline. Since the February survey of Pulse Asia, the elder sister of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been out of the so-called “Magic 12” circle, or the top 12 candidates preferred by respondents. In Pulse Asia’s latest survey, Imee is no longer in the top 14 candidates who have a “statistical chance” of winning a seat in the polls.
From the 6-13 ranking with a 32.1 preference rating in March 2024, Imee’s standing has gone down to 13-18 with a 27.6 preference rating, her lowest so far.
The Social Weather Stations survey showed a similar downward trend, placing her at 16th with a preference rate of 19 in the March 15 to 20 polling, from 14th place with support of 24% of respondents in February and 28% in January.
It would show that her scandalously big ad spending, her campaign posters even in remote areas across the country, the dole-outs she distributed through her Imeesolusyon program and her visibility online through her investigation of the March 11 arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte have not translated into positive points in the surveys.
Even before the October 2024 filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 12 polls, the reelectionist senator’s political advertisements already amounted to P1 billion, based on published rate cards, according to a report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
While she described the report as “false and impractical,” her campaign ads playing on television and radio were aired more frequently than the others. Apart from ad spending, the senator has been distributing cash assistance, toys and NutriBuns during her visits to the provinces and communities through her Imeesolusyon program.
Imee is popular and has money — lots of it, it seems. She is a sister of the incumbent president and a member of a well-entrenched political dynasty. She has been in politics for so long as a congresswoman, Ilocos Norte governor and senator. How come she’s not faring well in the pre-election surveys?
Well, she said earlier this year that she would rather pray than pay too much attention to the pre-election survey results.
“Kasi ang turo ng ama ko (the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.), running scared kami lagi, as in palagi kami sinasabihan na mangampanya lang, magtrabaho lang, kayod lang at ‘wag masyadong pinapansin ang magandang balita, ‘wag malugmok sa masamang balita,” she said, pointing out that surveys and forecasts are highly speculative.
What could have gone wrong? With less than a month into the May 12 polls, can Imee still recover from her apparent missteps in the past months?
Political pundits attribute Imee’s poor showing in the preelection surveys to her desire to be on the good side of both her brother and the Dutertes despite the official breakup of the UniTeam following the resignation of Vice President Sara Duterte as education secretary in June 2024.
The thing with Imee Marcos is that she wanted to have the best of both worlds but ended up getting the ire of both, so it seems. “Namamangka sa dalawang ilog (boating on two rivers),” many would say.
She tried to save the UniTeam, a term she supposedly coined in 2022 following her successful effort to convince Duterte to be the vice presidential running mate of her brother. She failed because — despite designating herself in 2022 as the “Super Ate ng Pangulo” in reference to Sen. Bong Go’s position as special assistant to the president (SAP) under the Duterte presidency — she could not influence her brother into granting what Sara Duterte wanted, apparently her end of the bargain in agreeing to be Marcos Jr.’s running mate.
Early in this campaign, Imee said she was running as an independent and would not be joining the administration slate. But many were surprised when she appeared at the campaign kickoff rally of the Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas ticket endorsed by her brother in Laoag City on Feb. 11. After joining a few other rallies of the administration slate and still criticizing policies of her brother while defending the Dutertes, she was dropped from the ticket.
And it seems unlikely that she would get the endorsement of the Dutertes.
More than a week ago, the vice president was asked about her relationship with Imee. She said they were still friends. “Dalawa lang ‘yun, ma’am. It’s either nagpaplastikan kami or it’s really beyond politics. I would like to believe that it’s beyond politics already.”
Many believe that her committee’s investigation of the former president’s arrest and turnover to the International Criminal Court on March 11 was a rebuke of the administration’s action against Duterte.
Imee has repeatedly denied insinuations she was using the hearings, which have been on livestreaming, to win political points. The hearings may be viewed by millions of voters, while campaign sorties have only a few thousand attendees.
Given Imee’s declining ranking in the preelection surveys, she would need a big push to recover. The hearing on Duterte’s arrest is a good tool in aid of her reelection, in the hope of getting the votes of the former president’s legions of supporters.
However, Duterte’s longtime partner Honeylet Avanceña summed it all up, “Pa-ek-ek na lang ‘yun.” When asked by a supporter if she still trusts Imee Marcos, Avanceña replied, “‘Di ako naniniwala sa kanya … tanong lang kung ano nangyari. ‘Di ba niya nakita nangyari?”
Can Imee Marcos swallow her pride and reconcile with her brother or plead with Sara Duterte to win votes and keep her Senate seat until 2031? Or is she ready to lose despite her whopping campaign expenses? She’s indeed in quite a bind.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
