Metro Manila, Philippines – House Majority Leader and presidential son Sandro Marcos defended his family from the accusations of his aunt, Sen. Imee Marcos, of illegal drug use and called it an attempt to destabilize the government.
The senator called out her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and her nephews for supposedly using drugs before a mammoth anti-corruption rally of the religious group Iglesia ni Cristo Monday evening, Nov. 17.
Malacañang quickly denied the allegations.
READ: Imee accuses president of drug use; Palace dismisses ‘desperate’ move
“Sa lahat po ng binanggit ni senadora, walang basehan, walang katotohanan, at walang magandang idudulot sa bayan,” Rep. Marcos said in a statement on Tuesday, Nov. 18
[Translation: Everything the senator said has no basis, no truth, and will bring nothing good to the nation.]
“Hindi ito asal ng isang tunay na kapatid,” the lawmaker also said of the senator.
[Translation: This is not the character of a true sibling.]
Rep. Marcos said his cousins, Imee’s children, can also attest that the allegations were false.
He said repeating such accusations against the first family was “not only false, but dangerously irresponsible.”
“It pains me to see how low she has gone to the point that she resorts to a web of lies aimed at destabilizing this government to advance her own political ambitions,” the young Marcos said.
“For her to betray her own family brings a lot of pain to me as a consequence of my respect for her for giving me my start in public life,” he said.
Sen. Marcos has openly declared her support for the Duterte family, who has accused the president of taking cocaine since the fallout of the Uniteam, the Bongbong Marcos-Sara Duterte ticket in the 2022 elections.
President Marcos formed the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to investigate the flood control corruption scandal, which has linked lawmakers to alleged project kickbacks.
The president and his cousin, Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, were also dragged into the mess by resigned lawmaker Zaldy Co – an accusation called as “hearsay” by Malacañang and the Office of the Ombudsman pending a sworn affidavit.
