According to observers and folks who know her, Liza – who didn’t reply to requests for an interview – is prone to retain her influence after he’s sworn in on Thursday.
“Liza is tough, in many ways she is the backbone of BBM,” said Michael Marcos Keon, Marcos Jnr’s cousin. BBM is the initials of Mark Jr.
“I don’t think he would have made any decision without talking to his wife,” said a Manila-based lawyer who studied at university with Liza.
“[She] can be the primary advisor, the primary voice to take heed to, the last voice to take heed to.
Liza is rumored to have an icy relationship with Imelda, 92, and Marcos Jnr’s older sister – each of whom were conspicuously absent from his presidential campaign rallies.
“It’s pretty clear she ran the campaign and has the personality to get what she wants,” one observer said.
Duterte leaves a brutal legacy marked by the drug war and a U.S.-China policy reversal
Duterte leaves a brutal legacy marked by the drug war and a U.S.-China policy reversal
Liza and Marcos Jnr were married in Italy in 1993 and have three sons.
They met in New York in 1989 – she worked as a lawyer; he had been in exile after his father was faraway from power three years earlier.
It was an unlikely match.
Liza comes from an elite family with ties to a political party that opposed the late dictator and helped end his brutal and corrupt 20-year rule.
He is a politician, he’s a star. I’m only a backup dancer
“It wasn’t love at first sight,” Liza told talk show host Aster Amoyo last 12 months.
“But once you meet him, how can you not fall in love, right?”
Two years after the patriarch’s death in 1989, the Marcoses returned to the Philippines and started a successful political comeback.
Marcos Jnr won the congressional seat in Ilocos Norte. He later served as provincial governor and sat within the Senate.
According to the biography on the web site of her company M & Associates, Liza within the meantime worked as a lawyer and likewise taught law at universities.
“At the beginning we decided that he was a politician, he was a star. I’m just a backup dancer,” said Liza Amoyo.
In the same interview, Marcos Jnr said his wife had “superpowers” and would get angry, cry or flirt when she wanted an upgrade or a ticket to a sold-out event.
“But I’ll have my way,” Liza interjected.
Marcos Jnr’s wife emerges from the shadows because the Philippine election race heats up
Marcos Jnr’s wife emerges from the shadows because the Philippine election race heats up
Liza said Marcos Jnr told her about his decision to run for president while watching a Marvel superhero movie Ant Man.
“It’s his decision. I didn’t encourage him, but I didn’t discourage him either.
And although her mother-in-law once gained fame as a first lady thanks to her stunning accumulation of luxuries, Liza told TV host Boy Abunda that she will forge her own path.
“My role model is me,” she said. Liza rejected her husband’s idea of joining the federal government, claiming that he would “fire all of them.”
“It has to be my way or the highway,” she said.
