Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is in hospital with pneumonia

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, the mother of the incumbent president and widow of an ousted dictator, has been hospitalized with pneumonia.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said on Tuesday that his mother, who is 94, was suffering from a slight pneumonia and was put on antibiotics by her doctors.

Marcos, in a statement from Melbourne, Australia, where he is attending an Asian summit, said that his mother was “in good spirits” and has “no difficulty in breathing and is resting well.”

Marcos’ sister Senator Imee Marcos told reporters that her mother has had bouts of fever and coughing and was taken to the hospital for closer monitoring.

Imelda Marcos’s lavish lifestyle amid her country’s appalling poverty came to symbolize her late husband’s authoritarian rule, which ended when a 1986 army-backed “people power” uprising toppled him and drove him and his family to U.S. exile.

The ousted leader died in exile in Hawaii three years after being overthrown without admitting any wrongdoing, including accusations that he and his family amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion while he was in power.

The Marcoses returned to the Philippines in 1991 and gradually regained political power despite the plunder and widespread human rights atrocities under Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

In 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr won the presidential race in a landslide victory in one of the country’s most dramatic political comeback. Opponents said he clinched the top post through well-funded social media campaign that whitewashed the family’s political history.