<\/p>\n
(Journalist Caroline Kennedy was requested by JV Cruz, then Philippine Ambassador to look after Imee Marcos and her husband Tommy Manotoc for a whole evening in London. The following was lifted from Kennedy’s blog.) <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n So, very reluctantly I agreed. My brother-in-law, Elliott Kastner, had a new musical, \u201cMarilyn\u201d, about the life of Marilyn Monroe running at the Adelphi Theatre on the Strand so I reckoned I could invite Imee and Tommy to that. By going to the theatre I imagined, we could keep the conversation to a minimum thus avoiding dredging over old animosities. I called Elliott, explained the situation and he reserved some complimentary tickets at the box office for us. He suggested I call the manager of the theatre to warn him that I would be bringing the daughter of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. The manager was extremely courteous and offered to make all the necessary security arrangements, take us into the private VIP bar during the interval and arrange for us to meet the actors backstage at the end of the show.<\/span><\/p>\n I knew two of the main actors, Stephanie Lawrence, playing Marilyn and Judith Bruce, playing Marilyn\u2019s mother, so I called them to say we would be dropping in after the performance. Everything was in place. \u201cSorted\u201d, I thought, almost looking forward to the evening. But how wrong I was. I should have known that nothing involving any member of the Marcos family is ever that simple.<\/span><\/p>\n I spoke to Imee the day before the event. I gave her the name and address of the Adelphi Theatre and told her exactly what time we should meet there. In order to avoid misunderstandings I asked her to write it all down.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd please make sure you\u2019re there ten minutes before curtain\u2018s up!\u201d I said as politely as I could. And then, more pointedly, \u201cTheatre starts on time in England.\u201d \u201cSure, no problem!\u201d she replied and put the phone down.<\/span><\/p>\n At the allotted time, Ben, the theatre manager and I were waiting patiently in the lobby.\u00a0Five, ten, fifteen minutes \u2014 half an hour \u2014 passed and still no sign of Imee. Yet again, just as it always did in Manila, the theatre curtain was forced to wait for a member of the Marcos family. As the audience inside began to hiss and boo, the red-faced manager could wait no longer. He gave the nod for the show to begin. My heart sank. I visualized Ben and me waiting in the lobby all night. I was indignant. This was discourteous not only to the management but also to the actors and the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, seven stretch black limousines rolled up outside the theatre. Doors flung wide open and uniformed men, carrying armalites, spilled out onto the pavement. I watched in horror as some of the armed minders rushed inside and others surrounded the perimeter, effecting a cordon sanitaire<\/em> around the theatre.\u00a0And, when they decided the venue was safe, they snapped their fingers, whispered into their walkie-talkies and nodded the go-ahead for Imee and Tommy to emerge.<\/span><\/p>\n By this time people in the street had stopped dead in their tracks. They stared incredulously, probably wondering who on earth deserved such a massive security operation.<\/span><\/p>\n I, too, couldn\u2019t believe my eyes. This was like finding myself in a cheap gangster movie. I couldn\u2019t help thinking that nobody in London would even recognise Imee Marcos, let alone care who she was or what happened to her. Nobody in London was ever likely to threaten her physical harm or kidnap her. Well, nobody that is, except, of course, her own parents who had already proved they were more than capable since they managed to \u201ckidnap\u201d the hapless Tommy Manotoc following their daughter\u2019s hasty marriage to him. And all for the simple reason that Imelda didn\u2019t approve of him. When the scared young man was finally \u201creleased\u201d from a month in his secret mountain cave and when his supposed captors, the NPA Communist guerrillas, had been suitably \u201cpunished\u201d, Tommy emerged into daylight for the benefit of the television cameras looking healthier and more robust than he did before he \u201cdisappeared\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n But nobody was about to drag Imee off the streets of London and hold her against her will. Nobody was about to make an attempt on her life. Nobody was going to hold her for ransom.\u00a0This was exhibitionism at its most vulgar. This was simply a very successful attempt at drawing attention to herself. And, whether it was her own idea of making a dramatic entrance or \u201cDaddy\u2019s\u201d orders for protecting his anointed heir, I never did find out. But seven decoy cars and nine armed bodyguards seemed, in my opinion, definitely excessive.<\/span><\/p>\n By now the manager was at his wits\u2019 end. Armed guards were illegal in London and with them posted inside and outside the theatre so flagrantly he felt he was bound to get into serious trouble with the law.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCan\u2019t you ask her to get rid of them?\u201d he whispered to me, as Imee swept into the lobby.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI doubt it,\u201d I replied, \u201cthe Marcoses are a law unto themselves. Nobody tells them what to do! That\u2019s tantamount to suicide where they come from!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I greeted the newlyweds and introduced them to the manager. There were no apologies but then I didn\u2019t expect there to be. There was more hissing and booing from the audience as we were escorted into the theatre in the middle of Scene 2 and blindly groped our way in the dark towards our seats in the middle of the front stalls. I cringed as people making space for us to pass, were forced to stand up, dropping their bags, coats and boxes of chocolates, their seats swinging shut with loud thuds.<\/span><\/p>\n Feeling no guilt at all, Imee then whispered to me:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201dWhat\u2019s going on? What\u2019s the story so far?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Trying to keep my voice as low as possible I whispered back. I could feel the glares in my direction as I explained the plot. I desperately wanted to leave, preferably in the dark, so no one could see me and point the finger.<\/span><\/p>\n In the interval, as promised, the manager led us around to the private bar. He offered us drinks and then left. I started to make small talk.\u00a0 Where had they visited, who had they met on their travels, that sort of thing. I finally plucked up the courage to ask Imee the question that had really been on my lips.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDidn\u2019t you feel really bad leaving your baby behind?\u201d \u201cOh, yes, I miss him terribly,\u201d Imee replied.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSurely you could have brought him with you, I mean with a nanny so you could still have gone out and enjoyed yourselves?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, but Daddy wanted me to leave him. He thought it would be safer.\u201d \u201cBut,\u201d I persisted, \u201cI heard you were breastfeeding. Did you have to stop, just like that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I was really dying to know the answer to this. But, before Imee had a chance to reply, the composer Tim Rice and the actress Elaine Paige turned round to talk to us. More introductions and more pleasantries and then the bell rang and it was time to return to our seats.<\/span><\/p>\n When the play was over, I escorted Imee and Tommy backstage. Imee was at her sparkling best. She talked, she laughed and, like her mother, she turned on the charm \u2014 but, if I or the actors were hoping for an apology for her late arrival, we were destined to be disappointed. Judith Bruce turned to me and whispered, \u201cWell, Caroline, I\u2019ve known you a long, long time but you always manage to surprise me with the people you know! Who on earth will you show up with next?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Graciously, like a well-rehearsed politician, Imee made her excuses to leave. Ben and I walked her back to the lobby where the theatre manager was waiting patiently. As soon as they spotted her, the bodyguards sprang into action, raised their armalites, swivelled their eyes to scan the lobby and the street outside and fell into step behind her. She shook hands with the manager, thanked him for his arrangements and made her way through the glass doors out onto the Strand. The seven cars were waiting, engines revving. As she stepped into one of them, the minders piled themselves into the others and, with horns blaring and screeching tyres, they were off down the Strand. Ben and I stood, beleaguered, on the pavement. There had been no goodbyes for us, no thanks for arranging the evening and, despite the seven stretch limos, no offer of a lift home.<\/span><\/p>\n Later that same summer I found myself sitting on a sofa next to Imee\u2019s younger sister, Irene. She and her new husband, Greggy Araneta, were visiting London on their honeymoon. I now had a perfect opportunity to ask Irene why Imee had left her baby Ferdinand at home.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDaddy thought it was safer for him to stay in Manila,\u201d Irene replied. \u201cBut I think I heard her saying she was still breastfeeding\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes, she was.\u201d Irene sounded bored. But I was intrigued. \u201cHow on earth did she continue to do that when she was travelling around Europe?\u201d I persisted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Irene glanced at me as though I was stupid.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSimple, Caroline!\u201d she laughed.\u00a0\u201cShe just expressed her milk everyday and then Daddy sent a Philippine Airlines plane to wherever she was and it would bring the milk back!\u201d Irene shrugged her shoulders as if to say \u2014 isn\u2019t that what every mother does when she\u2019s away from her newborn baby for several weeks?<\/span><\/p>\n Now I understood why all my friends had been complaining during that time that all the Philippine Airlines flights to Europe had either been delayed or cancelled. The solution was obvious. The presidential dairy run was abducting the planes and flying Imee\u2019s precious breast milk back to Manila. This is when it really dawned on me that the Marcoses lived on a totally different planet to the rest of us. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Journalist Caroline Kennedy was requested by JV Cruz, then Philippine Ambassador to look after Imee Marcos and her husband Tommy Manotoc for a whole evening in London. The following was lifted from Kennedy’s blog.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}