A rare catch-up with Aimee Marcos
Controversial, opulent and Imeldific.
Just a few words that will strikingly come to mind when you come across a Romualdez-Marcos. But talking to Pres. Bongbong Marcos’ youngest sister Aimee will make you really think twice. Aimee is, of course, in the inner circle, being the youngest daughter of former First Lady Imelda Marcos. The only thing she got from the branding though is the word beautiful.
First of all, if you see Aimee, most often, she will just be in an unbranded T-shirt and jeans, plus sneakers. She will be deep in conversation about the latest artist she discovers and book she reads. Very far from politics and the limelight.
I have known Aimee for more than half of my life, so when she miraculously agreed to have an on-record conversation with us, my first question was, “Are you ready?” Meaning, is she ready for the spotlight given that her brother is holding the top position in the government?
“I have no choice but to be ready,” she said. “My favorite thing to wear was my anonymity. It still is, but apparently that’s gone due to social media, but I like being quiet. I never really liked the spotlight.”
Before the pandemic hit, Aimee left Manila for Cagayan De Oro. Far from Ilocos and Tacloban, where her parents hail from. Her reason? As cheesy as it may sound, she explained, “Why CDO? CDO is the hometown of my husband. I moved for love, dahil sa pag-ibig. Iyong pamilya niya andoon. (But) there are two reasons why. The first reason is, I’ve been wanting to get out of Manila. No offense Manileños, I am not meant for the city.”
Aimee found a partner in lawyer Cid Bernedo and they have a beautiful son whom Aimee is very protective of. Going back to the reason she left Manila, it was also because life was tough in the city. Like most of us, Aimee commutes and finds herself stuck in the daily corporate grind.
“Noon kasi I used to live in Kapitolyo in Pasig,” she recalled. “I used to work in ABS-CBN, so the cheapest way to do that is kasi ayoko ng taxi, hello, Ilokana! Nakahanap ako nung trike galing sa loob ng village ng Kapitolyo papunta sa MRT, yun yung stop. Then, you take the MRT to GMA (Kamuning), baba ka uli and trike papunta ABS-CBN. That was my daily route for about two years… medyo at the time ayoko talaga ng kotse ‘coz one, carbon emissions and two, the maintenance at the time I just don’t want to deal with.”
Yes, Aimee, even though she’s a Marcos, worked for ABS-CBN. Now, she is a digital content strategist based in Mindanao for a handful of private companies, and business has been good.
“To be honest with you, this has been the busiest that I have been in the last four years because I’m usually just at home,” she said. “I work from home anyway and I have meetings just like this even prior to when the pandemic hit. Sanay na sanay na ako when the pandemic hit. It was not really a break in my stride. If not for anything, dumami pa nga iyong mga kliyente sa social media. I do manage a couple of brands. That’s the bread and butter of my business. I manage content strategy. I do a lot of digital content strategy, content creation and of all that.”
The Marcos siblings all have their own thing going for them, but during the campaign season though, it was a different calling for Aimee as she voluntarily rendered her services in Region X for her brother. She even did not introduce herself as the “Little Aimee” when she joined to help her brother’s campaign in Mindanao.
“What happened was we started hearing rumors about the caravan of Uniteam for BBM and we were di ba join tayo, support di ba? I didn’t introduce myself to the organizers, this was just organized by these kids.”
I asked, “Hindi si BBM nagsabi sayo? Nalaman mo nalang?” Aimee answered, “Wala, no one says anything, no, no, no, none of that! This was spontaneous. I believe this was in November of last year and they organized a ridiculous amount of people just to go… and then I found out may HQ (headquarters) na pala sa Mindanao, so obviously I wanted to give my support. ‘Is there anything I (can) do for you guys?’
“So that’s how it snowballed into what happened and making a conscious choice to be able to support my brother in an area where we aren’t really known. Hello, it’s not Ilocos or Tacloban. Hindi ganon, di ba? I had the very interesting vantage point of being at the ground level or grassroots, and also understanding what the national was trying to say or what kuya is trying to say… so kinakabit ko lang silang dalawa.”
Aimee ever since has shied away from politics and the spotlight, but it seems to follow her now. If you search YouTube and TikTok, numerous fan accounts are posting about her and are building interest in what she does. She said that she never watched them unless they were directly sent to her.
But what if politics will unshockingly knock on her door? Aimee shared, “Unless it comes from the immediate family — no, they’re the only ones I’ll say yes to, (but) then it would even be with a couple of conditions, but yung ako mismo mag-de-decide? Ako no, never! That’s not going to be an option, I’ll leave it to people who are better at it. A job of politics is for the people and I would like to serve the people how I know how. I can do it in another way, it doesn’t have to be politics. Masyado ako cowboy para diyan, hindi ako pwede.”
Speaking of politics, Aimee is doing her part in explaining to her son the events that happened to our country, specially the People Power.
Here’s how she does it factually: “You explain it (in) bits and pieces like the Feb. 25th holiday that was hard to explain and I had to read up on a lot of things regarding how to explain certain concepts to an eight-year-old or a nine-year-old or a six-year-old. Iba tingin nila sa mundo, so kailangan mo talaga i-explain in a way that they can understand it. Hindi mo pwede ibagsak lahat, konti-konti mo lang, but this past year and last few months, actually grabe.”
Aimee was also explaining to her son how things are now that PBBM won.
“Konti na-gets niya like Uncle Bong is now President of what? I guess that’s a good thing right, mama? When we see him, is it okay to hug him? I said of course, crazy! Haha.”
Aimee also had a message to supporters of their family who had faced backlash. She emphasized though on appreciating the haters who keep their family on their toes with regards to their actions.
“Taos pusong salamat sa suporta niyo sa amin,” she said. “Lahat ng suporta niyo kay kuya sobrang nakakatuwa, yung (outpour) ng pagmamahal niyo sa amin nitong eleksyon na ito, specially for my brother. He really is awesome. He really is an awesome dude. I’m glad that he got the job. Salamat sa inyong lahat at sa dinaanan niyo to prove your loyalty to us, to your support to us. Don’t think that we do not hear it, see it all the time. We are so grateful for everyone out there, even the bashers, even the haters, you guys are there to make us stronger and to challenge us, so I thank you for that as well.”
Aimee further said, “There should always be two sides of a conversation, hindi dapat nag-iisang side lang, ang boring naman noon masyado. Sana naman we could talk about stuff without throwing hate around so much. Let’s talk about it in a proper way and sana you can hear ours.”
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