Keeping It in the Family

A snippet of our recent dinner conversation at home...

"Cristina may run for President."

"Why? I thought Kirchner could run for another term?"

"Yes, But he may let his wife run."

"Is he doing this because he might be able to fix something for her while he still has some popularity?"

"Maybe he just has had enough of her nagging him for it."

While political fractions are setting up new offices, most of them supporting the Kirchner brand, at the back of the Congress, Reuters ran a piece on a First Lady of another ex-Spanish colony – the famous and infamous Imelda Marcos.

The former First Lady of the Philippines and self-styled icon of beauty, famous for amassing shoes by the hundreds and gems the size of grapes, has launched a line of costume jewellery recycled from the less expensive bits of her own collection.

During the height of the Marcos regime, Filipinos coined the word "Imeldifico" to describe acts of excess. Mrs Marcos was accused of looting up to US$10 billion from her impoverished country together with her late husband, President Ferdinand Marcos.

Ousted as president by a popular revolt in 1986, Ferdinand died in exile in Hawaii in 1989. Imelda returned to the Philippines two years later, running unsuccessfully for president but winning a term in Congress.

Today, the 77-year-old iconic figure is often seen at high-society events in Manila. She currently faces dozens of criminal and civil cases but denies the charges and accuses successive Philippine governments of persecuting her into near-poverty.

The "Imelda Collection" is being produced by Imelda's daughter Imee Marcos, a congresswoman, with youthful input from her grandson Martin "Borgy" Manotoc, an underwear model and possible candidate for mayor of Manila in elections next May.

Who says politics can't be entertaining.