Only ‘greedy in giving’ defends Imelda Marcos camp
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 04/07/2009 12:19 AM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
The camp of former first lady Imelda Marcos has defended her after a Newsweek magazine placed her on its list of “greediest people of all time.”
“Mrs Marcos says she is greedy in giving because she believes the only things you keep in life are those you give away,” said a statement sent to ABS-CBN News by the former first lady’s camp.
It said that this is the reason why during the administration of her husband, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, “she built numerous hospitals and engaged in various programs that benefitted the Filipino people more particularly the less fortunate ones.”
A legal counsel of the former first lady meanwhile said the statements by the magazine were unfair.
“Sa tingin ko hindi naman tama na isa siya sa greediest because if you go to other countries, in the museums, you will see the real big gems of the world, Makikita mo, sasabihin mo: ‘Ah maliit pala iyong mga alahas na ipinakikita ni Mrs. Marcos,’” said lawyer Robert Sison.
The former first lady was listed by the magazine to be among the 11 greediest individuals worldwide.
According to Newsweek, Imelda Marcos “saw it as her duty to provide ‘some kind of light, a star’ for the impoverished Filipino people over whom her husband presided.“
“So she took $5 million shopping sprees to New York and Rome, reportedly owned the world’s largest collections of gems and 3,000 pairs of shoes,” noted the magazine.
Marcos was also known for holding extravagant parties for foreign visitors during the reign of her husband.
The term “Imeldific” eventually stemmed from her lavish lifestyle as the word means “ostentatiously extravagant.”
Aside from Marcos, another woman made it to Newsweek’s “greediest of all time” list.
China’s Empress Dowager Cixi was also named “one of the greediest” after being the de facto leader of China for almost 50 years.
Newsweek noted that the Chinese empress had 3,000 jewelry boxes. She even used the navy’s money to “build herself a marble banquet boat, aboard which she ate 150-dish dinners with golden chopsticks.”
Meanwhile, rounding up the “greediest list” were Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus, Genghis Khan, Pope Sixtus IV, industrialist William H. Vanderbilt, American politician William M. “Boss” Tweed, swindler Charles Ponzi, Wall Street arbitrageur Ivan Boesky, former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski, and Bernard Madoff. With reports from dzMM and RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News
