Raw content

LIMITED OFFICIAL USE PAGE 01 STATE 024050 62 ORIGIN EA-09 INFO OCT-01 ISO-00 CIAE-00 DODE-00 INR-07 NSAE-00 PA-01 USIA-06 PRS-01 SP-02 /027 R DRAFTED BY EA/PHL:BAFLECK:JAK APPROVED BY EA/PHL:BAFLECK --------------------- 125948 R 310104Z JAN 76 FM SECSTATE WASHDC TO AMEMBASSY MANILA LIMITED OFFICIAL USE STATE 024050 E.O. 11652: N/A TAGS: OVIP, RP (MARCOS, IMELDA R. MRS.) SUBJECT: MEDIA COMMENT ON MRS. IMELDA MARCOS 1. THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS ABOUT MRS. MARCOS WERE MADE BY JACK ANDERSON ON THE DATES INDICATED ON THE GOOD MORNING AMERICA BROADCAST ON THE ABC TELEVISION NETWORK: JANUARY 26, 1976 THERE'S ONE FOREIGN VISITOR WHOM THE STATE DEPARTMENT HATES TO SEE. SHE HAPPENS TO BE ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST GLAMOROUS WOMEN. SHE'S THE FIRST LADY OF THE PHILIPPINES, IMELDA MARCOS, A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN WHOSE BEGUILING SMILES CHARM THE SCOWLS OFF THE WORLD'S MOST CANTANKEROUS LEADERS. BUT THE PROTOCOL PEOPLE AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT GRIT THEIR TEETH EVERY TIME SHE SHOWS UP IN THE UNITED STATES. SHE SELDOM BOTHERS TO NOTIFY THEM. SHE SIMPLY ARRIVES UN- ANNOUNCED. THEN, SHE STARTS MAKING DIFFICULT DEMANDS AND POKING HER NOSE INTO DELICATE MATTERS. SHE'S COME TO BE REGARDED MORE AS A PEST THAN A GUEST. SHE ALWAYS INSISTS, LIMITED OFFICIAL USE LIMITED OFFICIAL USE PAGE 02 STATE 024050 FOR EXAMPLE, UPON A WHITE HOUSE RECEPTION. AND SHE GETS HER DANDER UP IF IT DOESN'T MEET HER EXPECTATIONS. WELL, SHE SUDDENLY APPEARED IN THE UNITED STATES LATE LAST YEAR, FOR EXAMPLE; SHE LOITERED AROUND NEW YORK CITY FOR A NUMBER OF DAYS WITH LITTLE TO DO. A CONFIDENTIAL REPORT ON HER VISIT CLAIMS SHE WAS WAITING FOR SPAIN'S DICTATOR FRANCO TO DIE SO SHE COULD FLY TO MADRID FOR THE FUNERAL. SHE LIKES THE POMP AND CEREMONY OF SUCH INTERNATIONAL OCCA- SIONS. MEANWHILE, SHE ASKED TO BE RECEIVED AT THE WHITE HOUSE. THERE WAS BICKERING OVER SCHEDULES, BUT A 45 MINUTE TEA BREAK WAS ARRANGED WITH BETTY FORD. IMELDA SHOWED UP, BUT WAS DETAINED AT THE WHITE HOUSE GATE. SOME- ONE HAD FAILED TO NOTIFY THE GUARD. SHE WAS FURIOUS. THEN, PRESIDENT FORD NEGLECTED TO DROP BY TO GREET HER AT THE TEA SESSION. SHE BECAME MORE FURIOUS. FINALLY, THE TWO FIRST LADIES EXCHANGED GIFTS. IMELDA WAS SO DIS- APPOINTED IN HER GIFT THAT SHE LEFT IT BEHIND. SHE WAS LITERALLY SPUTTERING WITH RAGE, ACCORDING TO MY SOURCES, WHEN SHE FLIES BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES. JANUARY 30, 1976 I REPORTED THE OTHER MORNING, DAVID, THAT IMELDA MARCOS, THE FIRST LADY OF THE PHILIPPINES, CAUSES SHUDDERS AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT EVERY TIME SHE VISITS THE UNITED STATES. NOW, I'VE PICKED UP ANOTHER STORY ABOUT THE BEAU- TIFUL IMELDA. SHE WAS NAMED BY COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE LAST DECEMBER AS ONE OF THE TEN RICHEST WOMEN IN THE WORLD. NOW, THIS IS QUITE AN ACHIEVEMENT FOR A WORKING GIRL WHO WAS AN AIRLINE STEWARDESS ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO. THEN SHE MARRIED FERDINAND MARCOS, AND HE BECAME PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES. WELL, THEIR SUDDEN RISE TO RICHES IS NOT A STORY THEY WANT TO ADVERTISE IN THE PHILIPPINES. THEY DIDN'T WANT TO CENSURE COSMOPOLITAN MAGAZINE. THAT WOULD ONLY HAVE ATTRACTED ATTENTION TO THE STORY, AND WOULD HAVE LED TO BAD, WORLD-WIDE PUBLICITY. SO, THE MARCOS' QUIETLY ARRANGED WITH THEIR RICH FRIENDS TO BUY UP ALL THE COPIES OF COSMOPOLITAN AS FAST AS THEY HIT THE PHILIPPINE NEWSTANDS. THUS, THE MAGAZINE DISAPPEARED FROM THE NEWSTANDS OVERNIGHT, BEFORE THEY COULD REACH THE LIMITED OFFICIAL USE LIMITED OFFICIAL USE PAGE 03 STATE 024050 PEOPLE IN THE STREETS. KISSINGER LIMITED OFFICIAL USE NNN