Philippines’ Marcos rejects estranged sister's claim of drug use

Senator Imee Marcos claims her brother struggled with drug use since their youth and that it persisted to the present day

Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos and his sister Imee, children of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, answer questions during a press briefing at the Supreme Court in Padre Faura, Metro Manila, Philippines Apr 2, 2018. REUTERS

The Philippine president's office said on Tuesday that claims by his estranged sister that he uses illicit drugs are baseless and should not be taken seriously.

Speaking at an anti-corruption rally on Monday, Senator Imee Marcos said, without providing evidence, that her brother had struggled with drug use since their youth and that it had persisted to the present day.

"It is the reason for the flood of corruption", she said.

In response, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro told a press briefing on Tuesday that "it is a story without value." She cited a drug test Marcos took in 2021, when he was campaigning for president, that yielded negative results.

President Marcos has faced accusations of illicit drug use before. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, had said Marcos was included in the drug agency's so-called “narco-list” that was submitted to him when he was mayor of Davao City, a charge which the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has denied.

Duterte, president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested and taken to The Hague in March on a warrant linking him to killings during his "war on drugs", in which thousands of alleged narcotics peddlers and users were killed.

Imee Marcos is an ally of Duterte and says she no longer speaks to her brother.

She was elected as an independent senator in May's midterm elections, and ran with the backing of Vice President Sara Duterte, daughter of the former president and political rival of President Marcos.

Imee Marcos has criticised her brother's policies, including moves to deepen security ties with the United States, which are in contrast to Duterte's pro-China stance.

The president's son, Congressman Ferdinand Alexander "Sandro" Marcos, issued a statement defending his father and calling his aunt's assertions "a web of lies aimed at destabilising this government to advance her own political ambitions."

President Marcos has launched a sweeping investigation into irregularities in infrastructure projects, particularly flood-control works, after an internal audit showed many were substandard, poorly documented, and in some cases nonexistent.

The scandal, which has implicated officials and lawmakers, has angered a graft-weary public, with many taking to the streets to demand accountability.