554 - Inflaishment · podcasthero

Hello and welcome to My Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hartstock.

That's Karen Kilgariff.

And this is a video podcast.

That's right. You know where I watched this video? I just remember this. Where? I was in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. Boo. And they had like Netflix so you could watch TV, you know?

Boo, we hate Hollywood.

Boo. But I was just like, I just put it on just to see what happened.

And then it turned into... That I floated away. Into yourself.

Pink cloud.

That's crazy. Was it a shock to your system?

It was where your ears pop and, like, you just feel like you're in a little, like, you know, airplane pod.

Oh, I meant seeing us.

Oh, no. No, I'm used to that. I watch every episode. No, honestly, I just wanted to get it on their list. So whoever goes in next will see it.

Georgia, she's boots on the ground.

Marketing.

She is absolutely grassroots. She's going to do it. It's like how Lady Gaga did it with Joanne. Georgia's out there spray painting the sidewalk on our behalf and always has.

That's right. And I don't understand the Lady Gaga reference, but I love it anyway.

Some do.

And they'll be on our side.

That's right. Those Jen somethingers. Monsters? Jen monsters. Oh, I like that.

I think they call themselves little monsters.

Oh, that's cute. Well, it is almost Halloween, so.

So you have a nice bat shirt on?

Isn't that cute?

Mm-hmm.

It's just completely covered by this mic.

I'm also the night sky, so I'm with you.

You're matching blue eyes. Love it.

We're just so ready for spooky season over here. Always. We are ready. Well, it's a solo episode. Should we just get into it?

Let's do it. Yeah, I did my hyperbaric story.

Wait, is there any benefit from that?

Oh, yeah. I'm just doing it for the fuck of it.

Well, like, is it soothing? Is it, like, physically?

It's physically really good for you. I will not pretend like I know what it is right now, but it's just, like, the healing, you know, getting off alcohol and trying to, like, heal my body and shit like that.

All that crap like get into this box try it so i'm like i'll try it we'll lock you down for an hour you know i love.

That shit like red light therapy i love the iv try it all that fancy la.

Stuff how about have you ever done saunas so.

I love saunas love a sauna i love a dry sauna dry wet you don't give a shit baths you know i take baths like four times a week or so I do know that about you.

When I first learned that about you, I was like, is she a mermaid? And then over the years, I was like, there was something I remember happening probably seven years ago that was so stressful that I was at my house. I didn't know what to do. And I'm like, oh, I'm going to go take a bath. I'm going to tap into that resource she uses.

Self-care, baby. It works. Speaking of self-care, we have a podcast network. It's called Exactly Right Media. Here are some things you can listen to in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber or in the bathtub or the sauna.

We provide so many options for you. For example, we've got big news right now from our very own Kate Winkler-Dawson. She is the narrator of her new audio book, Blood on the Page. It comes out October 20th, just in time for spooky season. It tells the story of the infamous Ratcliffe Highway murders. This case has left a lasting mark on law enforcement history and, interestingly enough, literature.

Oh, I am so in.

Can't wait. And also, Kate, talk about soothing.

Yes.

That's a voice you want in your ear.

Absolutely. That's everyone's Thanksgiving weekend. I can't be near my family. Listen.

Go take a long walk.

Yes.

Pretend you have to get ice.

Long bath. Put the ice in the bath. And if you've ever wanted to solve a murder on the high seas, buried bones in disgraced land, are both joining Virgin Voyages True Crime Voyage this March. It's going to be incredible. I definitely have FOMO. Yes. If they ask us again, I might have to do it. Booking is open now at virginvoyages.com.

You just made about 19 people go, go do it!

19, that's it.

Oh, also today is your last chance to vote in the Signal Awards. Our podcasts that are nominated are Two-Face, John of God from Adande Media, I Said No Gifts, Disgraceland, Brief Recess, and The Knife. They're nominated across seven categories. These are listeners' choice awards, so go to SignalAward.com. And please catch your votes. Let's get these amazing DIY podcasters who work their asses off a little something special.

Yeah, it's good. I heard it's good luck to vote for Exactly Right Media Podcasts in the Signal Awards. It's right.

That's right. Right.

And then over in the merch corner, we have a new Call Your Dad design. Boop, boop. OK, yeah, you guys remember this one. It's available as a T-shirt, tote, pop socket and sticker. So go get yours now at exactlyrightstore.com. They're good luck. Everything's just good luck.

Everything's good luck. Also, just a quick word to Gen Y, Z, and Alpha.

And those monsters.

And those little monsters. This is what phones used to look like. That's a phone. That's why that's designed like that. We love a nice 60s style. George and I are very mid-century influenced.

That's right. That's how old we are.

And Vanessa Lilac, who's our graphic designer, made this design especially for us.

It's so cute. I love it.

Only after we released it did we all go, No one knows what old phones look like, do they? Do they?

Of course they do.

If you support old phones, get yourself a Call Your Dad t-shirt.

All right, well, this is your solo ep, so tell me a motherfucking story. Lean Back. Lean Back.

Your favorite song, Lean Back. Okay, so I found this story listening to one of my all-time favorite podcasts, Unexplained, hosted by Richard McLean Smith. He talks like this. And it's kind of anthology. He just presents like incredible, amazing, weird, unexplained stories.

Yeah. So good.

And so this story was on the episode entitled The Weight of Empty Space. I think I listened to it during the tour. Yeah. Because it is my airplane travel podcast.

So good.

I just go somewhere else.

So soothing. Yeah.

Hi, Richard.

We love you.

So this story begins in the early morning hours of November 17th, 1981. in the Philippine capital city of Manila. Thousands of construction workers are racing to finish a massive new building, the Manila Film Center. The project has a hard deadline. They're already behind schedule, despite 4,000 laborers working in three shifts, rotating out every eight hours so that construction continues 24 hours a day, nonstop. At 3 a.m.

on November 17th, The scaffolding holding up the building's in-progress upper floors gives way. And wet cement begins to rain down like a deadly waterfall, burying everything and everyone underneath it. We know the person responsible for this disaster. the person who made the demand, who set the timeline that was so insane, and who later became the butt of many jokes across American late-night television in the 80s and 90s.

First Lady Imelda Marcos and her 3,000 pairs of shoes were a late-night punchline all when I was growing up.

Yeah, I remember that.

But her and her husband, President Ferdinand Marcos, shared an obsession with power, with access, with material things that was almost cartoonish. That is, until you learn about the human toll, the torture, the kleptocracy that threatened to end a nation. So as we approach the 2026 midterm elections here in America, I'm going to tell you a story of how democracy can be dismantled in plain sight and how normal citizens pay the price with their lives. This is a story of the Marcos regime's Manila Film Center disaster.

This is so good and timely. I love this. Like, this isn't pie in the sky. We're scared. This shit happens.

This is really happening. It's been happening. We've all talked about it. No one has experience with it except for the people that live in this country because it happened in their country and they had to come here. Some call them immigrants. Some call them refugees.

Yeah.

Many call them the people that saved this country.

Many call them Americans.

They're all Americans, and they're the ones who go, it's real. Yeah. It's happening in front of you. Stop laughing about it. Yeah.

Okay, anyway.

The main source of this story today is Lauren Greenfield's 2019 documentary, The Kingmaker. And the rest of the other sources are in our show notes. So let's start in 1954. That's when Imelda is 24 years old. She's fairly new to the city of Manila, but she has a well-known last name because of her prominent political family. And that last name, although I'm positive this is not going to come out correctly, is Romualdez.

That sounds great.

And now I'll try her full name, which is Imelda Remedios Visitatione. Trinidad Romualdez.

Beautiful.

That's her whole name. And she's actually made even more of that name by becoming a beauty pageant queen in the past couple years. Wow.

Isn't that odd?

Beauty pageants are a part of this story.

Okay.

So anyway, Imelda's creating a buzz with her arrival in the capital city. What people might not know about her is that her father lost much of the wealth that everyone knew he had years before, so she actually grew up poor. Meanwhile, in that same city, 36-year-old Ferdinand Marcos is also from a political family, and he is a rising star in national politics. And that is kind of an amazing fact, considering that when he was an 18-year-old law student, He was convicted of assassinating his congressman father's political rival.

What?

Then a few years after that, he takes the bar exam from prison and passes with one of the highest scores in the country.

Damn.

So then he is allowed to act as his own attorney to present his appeal before the Supreme Court. And even though he's only in his early 20s at this point, so he goes to jail when he's 18. Now he's in his early 20s. He's gotten his law degree, passed with flying colors.

Mm-hmm.

With very little practical legal practice, he appears in front of the Supreme Court and absolutely crushes it.

Wow.

The Boston Globe reports, quote, Okay.

End quote.

Yeah, there's no one else.

No.

There's no one else.

But let's not feed children before they go to school.

Let's save that money.

Yeah, let's not feed children at school.

Let's strip every educational budget there is.

Definitely.

So that teachers have to either bring their own crayons or have none.

The killer is the only answer.

We've got to hire that killer.

Yeah.

Timely in many ways. So for what it's worth, by all accounts, seems like he did do the crime. But his brilliance during the appeal was so evident and so persuasive that it becomes an important part of the lore of Ferdinand Marcos. So about two decades later, he has become a member of the House of Representatives in Manila.

And one afternoon, he sees the beautiful young Imelda in the statehouse. She's there visiting her congressman cousin. And Ferdinand's already seen her pageant photos in the paper. She's kind of well known. So he approaches her. Imelda will later say, quote, In the first 20 minutes, he proposed marriage. A red flag.

8,000 red flags. They get married 11 days later.

Ouch.

Who's love bombing who? We'll never know. Ferdinand is exceedingly ambitious and he wants to become president, while Imelda is right out of central casting for the role of a politician's wife. She's classy, charismatic, she's beautiful, and like her husband, She has the same hunger for more, more, more.

Do you have a picture of them?

Oh, first we have the Milda Marcos as a beauty queen.

Let's see her young. Oh, gorgeous.

Yeah.

Ridiculously gorgeous.

Truly amazing.

Yeah.

Here's a solo shot of Ferdinand.

Okay. Good looking guy.

This is the elite. Yeah. You know, the people who are making it happen in Manila.

Okay.

And then they get together and they're a power couple.

What year is this again? 80. Hold on.

Let me just read this next line. Together, they become a national power couple. And in 1965, it's always on the page. We just refer back to the page. In 1965, a decade into their marriage, Ferdinand Marcos becomes the 10th president of the Philippines. And Imelda is anointed first lady. At this time, he is 48 years old and she is 36. And they have three kids. Their first son, Ferdinand Jr., who's nicknamed Bongbong. And then they have two daughters, Imelda Jr., who they call Aimee and Irene. So Ferdinand Marcos wins running on the slogan, quote, our nation can be great again.

Oh. End quote. Really?

Yep.

End quote.

People hear that and go, wow, that's true. We used to be. That's true. Let's get back.

Just because he said that, I bet he's the one to do that.

Right?

Let's not check any resumes. Yeah.

Let's not wonder if this is a manipulation of some kind where we're turned against each other so we're disempowered. Anyway, the Marcos era officially begins. There's optimism both within and outside the country. The Marcoses are described as Asia's answer to the Kennedy's Camelot, and that tracks because the election is won basically in the midst of the Cold War era.

The U.S. is very happy that Marcos won since he's a diehard anti-communist and he's a pro-Western ally. So once her husband takes office, Imelda Marcos' role quickly grows beyond the usual duties of a ceremonial first lady. She becomes one of the most powerful people in the Marcos administration, eventually taking on formal positions within the government, and meeting with world leaders abroad on behalf of her husband. And the reason she's able to do that is because underneath all of the usual politics, a major kleptocracy is falling into place. The Marcoses and their inner circle are enriching themselves through complicated schemes that are confusing by design, like kickbacks, shell companies, siphoning public funds, fake business deals. These days,

we call it crypto. Over time, they'll siphon billions of dollars from the people and spend it like there's no tomorrow, especially Imelda. She has a particular obsession with incredibly expensive building projects and acquisitions.

So that's like a house of cards, the TV show House of Cards. It's just like this world will never understand.

Yes, and I don't think there's any– it's not a coincidence that they're both from political families. They've grown up in this culture of this is how I scratch my back.

You scratch my back, too. We all scratch my back. Let's all scratch my back. Let's scratch my back.

That's how fascism works. They're in this world. They know the language. They know how it works. So she was never going to really be just a first lady. And in the documentary The Kingmaker, an acquaintance calls it the first lady's edifice complex, saying, quote, Imelda loved buildings. She called me one day when she was staying at the Waldorf in New York and said, What do you think of the Crown building on 57th and 5th? I'm going to buy it.

Jeez.

Then she bought four more buildings. She was a spontaneous person for acquisitions. If she saw something she liked, she'd take it. like buying out a jewelry store in Paris or shipping out animals from Africa.

Wow.

End quote. And those are, that's real. Those are all things she did.

Oh my God.

So they're just basically fleecing taxpayers, taking all that money that's supposed to be for the country and doing all that. And for the animals in Africa, she actually went on a Kenyan safari and she was so dazzled by it.

She thought it was like a shopping spree. Zebra.

Giraffe. For real.

Oh, my God.

They imported dozens of wild zebras, giraffes, antelopes back to the Philippines under the guise of wildlife conservation. But to house them all, the Marcos regime has to build a national wildlife sanctuary on the Philippines' Kalawit Island, which were the ancestral lands of the indigenous Tongbanwa people. So they displace hundreds of Native people to a former leper colony that's off the island.

Oy vey.

And those who resist are threatened by the military. Yeah. So to this day, Kalawit Island is still a wildlife refuge and tourist destination. But the animals have been there for so long and they're so inbred that they usually die prematurely from health issues.

Wow.

So it's very sad and dark.

That is like telling and dark.

Yeah. Yeah. So thanks in part to the strength of the economy in the 60s, Marcos maintains a decent approval rating for years. But in the 70s, when economic issues come up all around the world, like inflation. Inflation.

Inflation. Reaganomics. Can I just read it? Yeah, yeah.

Reaganomics or classic inflation. So issues like inflation and unemployment start creeping up, and so do the public's political frustrations. In 1972, Marcos's party is trounced in the midterm elections, and not long after, citing threats from communist insurgent groups in the country, Ferdinand Marcos declares martial law. While there are definitely self-professed communist and anti-Marcos groups operating at the time, And the political situation, of course, is becoming increasingly tense because there's so much unemployment, all the issues. Historians characterize the Marcos' messaging here as fear-mongering and exaggerated to justify the imposition.

This is exactly what's going to happen.

But he tried to do it already.

Yeah.

He tried to do it. It didn't work. Okay. Minnesota, Minnesota, Minnesota.

Okay.

The CIA has described these anti-Marcos groups as, quote, too small and vulnerable. end quote, to be a real threat. So it's all just an excuse. But it works. And martial law allows Marcos, who's nearing the constitutional limits of his presidency, to stay in office as the political winds shift in the Philippines.

This is so fucked up.

Okay. Yeah. Many other constitutional protections and checks and balances are also suspended, meaning now Ferdinand Marcos, with Imelda right beside him, rules with absolute power. And this kicks off a dark new chapter for the people of the Philippines. Dissent and opposition of any kind are not tolerated. Things like picketing, striking, and even large meetings of people are outlawed.

Critics of the Marcoses are arrested and detained. without trials. Political prisoners are tortured and killed, while independent newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations are shut down.

Say that again. Okay.

That's an Oprah of you. Say that again. Critics of the Marcoses are arrested and detained without trials.

Critics. It's not Yeah. Lawbreakers. It's critics.

And oftentimes critics are actually just people stating facts.

Totally.

About what these people are doing.

Critics meaning questioning what the fuck is happening. Okay.

Sorry.

Go on.

The job of journalists.

Right.

To say, hey, is that right?

Yeah.

Because I actually am way smarter than you.

Right.

And I know the answer already.

Totally. Not me.

That wasn't a direct quote.

Yeah. No, no, no.

But I was pointing and I do apologize for that. I was trying to play a part.

It's okay. No. Not taking anything personally.

Yeah.

It's okay.

I'm reading it again. Critics of the Marcoses are arrested and detained without trials. Political prisoners are tortured and killed, while independent newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations are shut down, giving total control of the press to the Marcos regime. All the while, Ferdinand, Imelda, and their cronies continue to treat public dollars as their personal slush fund, sinking the nation into debt. But because they've shut down and silenced dissenters and the free press, the Marcoses are able to present to their public as strong and stable. And for their image outside of the Philippines, they hire an American PR firm and enlist influential allies like conservative academics to talk up the regime and justify their imposing of martial law.

Wow.

So now it's 1981. Ferdinand Marcos is 63 years old. He's been head of state for 15 years. Imelda is 51. She's held multiple offices. So that's how she does it. It's just like, fine, I'm the governor.

Totally.

Including serving in the national legislature and as the governor of Metro Manila.

Wow.

This is when Imelda becomes inspired by the glitz and glamour of the Cannes Film Festival in France. She envisions something like that for Manila. Something grandiose and singular. A sparkly film center with all of the technological bells and whistles. But also... one that's modeled on the Parthenon. So make all of my weird dreams come true.

You just can't buy class is the problem. Ask me. I fucking tried. Hey, listen, we're great examples. This shirt is from The Gap and always will be. I don't have my shoes tied and on all the way.

Georgia is wearing, I just heard a noise in the driveway shoes. I think I heard something in Sorry. Okay. So in late 1981, the Marcos has announced that the inaugural Manila International Film Festival will take place in January of 1982. So it's just a couple months away. They announced this before ground has even been broken on the project.

Normal construction project like this would need many months, if not several years, to properly construct. The Marcos regime hires 4,000 laborers. and gives them the impossible deadline of four to five months.

Yeah, when you don't have to worry about labor laws, it's fucking quick.

It's do it. So to give you a sense of how fast they were working, writer Nikkei de Guzman in an article for Esquire states that the venue's lobby alone should have taken more than a month to build. It's finished in just 72 hours. That's not how you get the quality craftsmanship and solid... And.

Like earthquake proof.

I mean.

Do they have earthquakes?

Okay, so now we're back to how I started this, the early hours of November 17th, 1981. So when the scaffolding fails, as they're pouring cement within the building and the scaffolding fails, some workers are killed instantly. But what's worse is survivors have to fight through rubble and quick-drying cement to free themselves and their coworkers. Jesus.

Jesus.

One witness describes a group. This is very disturbing. One witness describes a group tending to a stuck colleague who is, quote, alive but half buried in cement, saying, quote, to keep him awake, alert, and not to go into coma or shock. They kept him singing Christmas songs, end quote. So these are all people also. They have no experience in something absolutely nightmarish like this. They don't know what to do.

And what's even more horrifying is that the government imposes a media blackout that lasts for 15 hours about this, which is widely characterized as being done to give the regime an opportunity to do damage control and avoid a scandal. Witnesses say that rescue efforts seem deliberately delayed. Because of this, ostensibly to keep a lid on the disaster by preventing anyone on the outside, even first responders, from coming in and seeing what happened. Wow. Nine hours later, nine hours after the cement falls and people are stuck in it, medics and ambulances are allowed on site.

Nine hours?

Nine hours.

Do you have any photos of the building?

We have a photo of the building. It's what it looks like now, I believe.

Oh, it's the Parthenon.

Right?

Yeah. I mean, it's not the Parthenon. It's clearly the fucking, like, Eastern Bloc architecture.

It's what you get when you rush the Parthenon.

Right.

So nine hours later is when the regime releases a statement putting the death toll at three people. Again, reporting from outside the regime puts the death toll at at least 169 workers.

Wow.

Jackhammers are brought in next to break up the cement and remove the bodies. Wow. which they could have been brought in to maybe hopefully save some people, but they didn't. As Guzman reports for Esquire, some remains are, quote, tapered off and built over.

What?

The rule was that they had to meet the deadline no matter what happened, end quote. So the horrifying reality of this building is that there are bodies inside this building. Of the workers.

Encased in the cement that they refused to.

When I heard our friend Richard talking about this on his show, I was like, this can't be real. It can't be real. And then I sent the episode to Maren and I was like, is there a way we could tell the story? And she's just like, of course, because there was no journalism allowed. The details are all...

It's unverifiable except for eyewitnesses that like, you know, they.

Yeah.

They assure people. It's like, this is what I saw. No one doubts them.

Yeah.

But the building is still standing.

Yeah.

So in January of 1982, the newly completed building hosts the Manila Film Festival as promised. Presumably unaware of the disaster, I mean, probably, the New York Times describes an event held there as, quote, an all-out spectacle. Ugh. With a guest list that includes Jeremy Irons, Brooke Shields, and Priscilla Presley among the many.

Wow.

De Guzman continues, quote, Unbeknownst to the visitors, the wet cement was staining the hems of their clothes and the bottoms of their shoes. They were also stepping on the remains of hundreds of Filipino workers who were entombed in a cursed building.

There were hundreds that were entombed? Hundreds.

But no one knows the real numbers because.

Oh, my God. Right?

The workers who survived and witnessed unthinkable horrors were forced to continue working that night and every single day until that building was finished. The construction never stopped.

Yeah.

When it's done, Imelda Marcos immediately hosts an extravagant party. She arrives dripping in diamonds and showers her ritzy guests with charms, smiles, and expensive champagne. So running concurrently with all of this is growing political frustration and disillusionment within the Philippines. By this point in the 80s, the economic issues from the 70s have snowballed into a full-on crisis.

Unemployment is much higher, of course. Inflation is making the price of basic items skyrocket. Many Filipinos now believe that a small group of political elites are hoarding the country's wealth. On top of that, The violent crackdown on dissent is becoming impossible to sweep under the rug. According to Amnesty International, between 1972 and 1981, quote, some 70,000 people were imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured.

My God.

Over 3,200 people were killed, end quote. That statistic ends in 1981 because that's when Ferdinand Marcos officially lifts martial law after 10 years, nearly 10 years.

Mm-hmm.

Though this is a mostly cosmetic move to boost his image abroad, which is souring. But the repressive system that's still in place and the human rights abuses continue anyway. Meanwhile, a charismatic former senator named Benigno Aquino Jr., who's known as Ninoy, taps into people's anger and emerges as the Marcos' greatest rival. He's been a thorn in their side for years, dedicating himself to restoring true democracy to the nation. And for that, Sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah, guys, I'll be right back.

I'm just going to get this surgery.

Real quick.

I'm yours. I'll go right back in. When Ninoy recovers, instead of going right back to the Philippines, he and his family live in exile in the U.S. for the next three years. And he's politically active the entire time. Then on August 21st, 1983, when he's 50 years old, Ninoy returns home to continue the fight in the Philippines.

Moments after he steps onto the tarmac at the Manila airport, Benigno Aquino Jr. is assassinated by a gunman.

Holy shit.

Many people, including the Aquino family, suspect the Marcoses and the Marcos regime are behind this assassination.

Yeah.

Aquino's death adds fire to the growing people-led opposition movement. which in 1986 successfully brings down the Marcos regime and elects Aquino's widow, Cori Aquino, as president.

Oh, my God.

I just got chills and I knew I was reading it.

So dramatic.

And it's her. It's the anti-Amelda Marcos.

Love it.

That's right. None of us first wives are actually ceremonial.

Right.

We all fucking know what's going on. Right. We help make these decisions. Of course. Here we go. So she becomes president. This is despite evidence that the Marcos regime had done things like vote buying and intimidating voters to try to ensure their win. It didn't work.

Okay. That's nice.

At first, the Marcos regime refuses to cede power. So. Filipinos take to the streets in massive numbers, and that's when the Marcoses realize they have finally lost control. They flee to Hawaii as demonstrators storm the presidential palace, destroying chandeliers, portraits, furniture. And famously raiding Imelda's massive closet.

Yeah.

Resulting in that ad nauseum coverage of her 3,000 pairs of shoes. That's her later on because her shoes got put into a museum.

Oh, my God.

And she went and visited them.

To visit your shoes. Wow.

To visit your shoes. Other items of note that were found are a bulletproof bra and evening gowns said to be worth, at the time, $ 80, 000.

Wow.

Which in today's money might be... $ 270.

$ 243. Fuck! So close.

Really nice. Investigators do eventually identify a slew of places that the Marcuses are hiding their wealth. Shell companies, Swiss bank accounts, in art that they've bought, or jewel investments, and inexpensive international properties. Interestingly, one of these buildings is 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. It will later be sold to Donald Trump and rebranded as Trump Building.

Oh, it writes itself.

It writes itself in a way where I'm like, this program needs to be.

Overwritten, overhauled. It's like a Shakespeare comedy.

Yeah. That's not funny at all.

That's fucking like Shakespeare comedy. Just kidding. Fucking don't write in. Oh, my God.

Shakespeare wrote in and he's so pissed.

He's so pissed. He's like, I would never invent a fucking villain. like Donald Trump. How dare you?

Okay. So proving all this theft in court is, of course, very difficult. And many cases against the Marcuses end in acquittals, dismissals. They get gummed up in the appeals process. They languish. Again, let's remind everybody, these are lawyers. These are government, political officials. These are all people with power. They party with judges.

They party with High-powered attorneys. That's the business. So nothing really comes of it. In 1989, 72-year-old Ferdinand Marcos dies. In 1991, 62-year-old Imelda Marcos returns to the Philippines. So she had been in exile that whole time. She goes back to the Philippines, and she gets to work rebuilding the Marcos brand, sanitizing their legacy and presenting it as a sort of golden age of economic strength. She's as charming and glamorous as ever, and she's smart enough to capitalize on the public's genuine frustrations with her husband's successors.

Oh, dear.

Right? So the little time goes by, and then she comes back, and she's like, Remember? It was so much better when we were here. Yeah. This enables her to build out a new base of supporters. Lauren Greenfield, the documentarian behind The Kingmaker, has spent a lot of time with Imelda Marcos, and she has said, quote.

She's a narcissist. Yeah. Love it.

But narcissists are powerful.

Totally.

And influential. When you don't.

Care about people and their fucking actions and reactions, you can get anything done.

You can do everything. Yeah. And when you're a person that's interacting with a person who you can tell they don't care about you, instinctually— 80% of us are like, but I need you to care about me. Even though you're like, I don't like this person, whatever. But you're like, wait, what?

Socialization. It's just natural.

We can't be left out.

No.

Even from a mildew market.

Which is why we.

Are buying 20,000 pairs of shoes. Okay, so the base that she's building grows and grows. And by the mid-90s, she's back in Congress. And from here, the Marcoses steadily make their way back into mainstream politics. more recently with the help of aggressive social media campaigning than The Washington Post has characterized as, quote, revisionist and, quote, whitewashing the nation's history. Wow. It all comes full circle in 2022 when Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a.k.a. Bongbong, is elected president with 59% of the vote.

How did I not know? I mean, I know how I didn't know that, but wow.

Yep. That's why we're talking about it now. Imelda- who is now 97 years old, is still alive. In the Philippines, she's divisive, even among those who support her son. Of course, here in America, she's just a joke associated with a ton of shoes and, like, political excess. But we can't forget, and never should, that the Marcos' stolen wealth is estimated to be between $ 10 billion and $ 30 billion.

Holy shit.

And only $ 3. 6 billion of it has been recovered. And most importantly, that money was taken from the victims of the regime's violence, oppression, and greed. It's their tax dollars. The Manila Film Festival carried on in subsequent years after the disaster that, of course, no one knew about. But the film center building was abandoned following an earthquake in 1990.

I was right about the earthquake. Right?

Billions of pesos have been sunk into rehabbing this building since then. But it does not get much use. It's said to be heavily guarded and it is said to be haunted.

Of course.

Good. Given America's own slide into authoritarianism with its clownish, materialistic, and building-obsessed leader, this has reportedly inspired many people who are either Filipino descent or originally from the Philippines to take action in protesting here in the U.S., One of those activists is a woman named Mirla Baldonado. In the 80s, she was kidnapped by the state police, tortured and jailed for two years under the Marcos dictatorship. Today, she stresses the importance of fighting for democracy. She told reporters, quote, the lesson is that dictators fall. I mean, since time immemorial, you all fall down. It's only a matter of time that they do.

End quote.

And that's the story. of the Marcos regime and the Manila Film Center disaster. Wow.

I'm so glad you told me that story. Like, I'm so glad I know that. I feel so much smarter and hopeless.

Right? I mean, when you were saying that thing about, like, we don't know or, like, why we don't know, this idea, like, the reason that they started defunding education in America the way they did in the 70s and 80s is so we don't know anything. So there are people who had rich parents, who had education-centric parents who made sure that happened.

But if you were just the average kid that went to public school or, you know what I mean, went through life and you weren't necessarily politically curious, this is the kind of stuff that just you get it presented to you on Jay Leno making jokes about shoes and that's all you know. And that's fine. But here we are.

So might as well start talking. Like the shame of that for me, I'm over that shame because like, Sorry, I can't do anything about the fact that nobody was political when I was in my 20s. Right. Nobody was political when I was in my 20s.

Yeah.

And now that is, thank God, the way young people are living. They are being loud and out there and they put their bodies on the line for it. And like, thank God they are. Yeah.

And they're voting.

That's the most important thing, guys. I mean.

Yeah.

And also that they're just paying attention. They care when they threaten to shut down a social media platform. They immediately figure out where they're going. Right. Like they can't keep people from being connected and talking to each other.

Yeah.

The lights go out and the mic dies.

Well, amazing job. Thank you for telling us that story.

Thank you.

Educating us. And yeah.

Wow. Stay sexy.

And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie?

This has been an Exactly Right production.

Our managing producer is Molly Smith.

Our consulting producer is Kate Schellenbach.

Our creative lead is Allison Agosti.

Our associate producer is Tessa Hughes, and our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

This episode was mixed by Liana Squalacci.

Our researchers are Maren McGlashan and Allie Elkin.

Email your hometowns to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com and follow the show on Instagram at myfavoritemurder.

Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Or watch new episodes every week on Netflix. Search for My Favorite Murder, add us to your list, and hit the double thumbs up button. Goodbye.

554 - Inflaishment

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