Imelda Marcos was the wife of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the 10th Philippine President of the Philippines.
When the palace doors came loose on their hinges the amount of STUFF was incredible:
- A billion here
- 800 million there
- An office tower in Manhattan
- A waterfront estate on Long Island
- Dozens of country houses in the Philippines
- A secret second palace in Marcos’ home province, Ilocos Norte
During her time as First Lady, she traveled the world to buy new shoes at a time when millions of her own people were living in extreme poverty.
Imelda Marcos was reported to have left behind:
- 15 mink coats
- 508 gowns
- 1000 handbags
- 3000 pairs of shoes
If she never purchased another pair of shoes, changed her shoes 3 times a day, never wearing the same pair twice, it would take more than 2 years and 5 months to go through her shoe wardrobe on the day she fled Manila.
Since she kept buying shoes, it was clear she would never be able to go through all of them to even wear them once.
She had a great shoe collection of designer shoes. Since she kept buying shoes, it was clear she would never be able to go through all of them to even wear them once.”
In February 2006, Marcos insisted that her husband acquired his wealth legitimately as a gold trader with a personal fortune of 7,500 tons of gold, and after gold prices climbed in the 1970s, the Marcos family was worth about $35 billion.
However, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has no record of the Marcos family declaring or paying taxes on these assets.
After Ferdinand Marcos died in exile, Imelda quietly swept back into the Phillippines, re-integrating herself into society, and displaying her now infamous shoe collection as a symbol of her extravagance in a museum.
And to that, I say: “Hmm.”
She is now running for office.
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