TACLOBAN CITY—He got his mestizo looks from his paternal grandfather who was an American. But it was his maternal grandmother who gave him a more famous family name.

Supt. Marvin Marcos, the controversial chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Eastern Visayas, traces his roots to the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

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His great-great-grandfather on the mother’s side was Anastacio, a brother of Mariano Marcos, father of the late President. His grandfather, Theodore Candon, was an American soldier from Michigan who later separated from his wife and went back to the United States.

Marvin’s father, Teodoro, said his maternal grandmother told him to use the family name of his mother because his parents had already separated.

“I was entrusted to her (grandmother) by my mother when she worked in Manila when I was about 4 or 5 years old. I never met my father though,” he said.

His birth certificate reflected the family name of his father, Candon, though he never used it.

The Marcos family traces its roots to Ilocos Norte province since Ferdinand Marcos was a distant relative. Mariano, the dictator’s father, and Anastacio, Teodoro’s great-grandfather on the mother side, were brothers.

Aglipay ‘revolt’

Anastacio’s real name was Fabian but he changed it to avoid detection since he was a member of a group supporting a “revolt” being carried out by Gregorio Aglipay, founder of the Philippine Independent Church, against the Catholic Church.

Anastacio fled to Dulag town in Leyte and married a local lass, Gavina Aguillon. They later moved to the nearby town of La Paz.

Teodoro said Anastacio’s real name was in the Marcos family memorabilia found at the Marcos Museum in Batac, Ilocos Norte.

“We are distant relatives. The former president acknowledged this when, during his campaign in La Paz when he first ran for senator, he visited my grandfather, Antonio Marcos Sr.,” he said.

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Teodoro’s grandfather asked the help of Ferdinand for a job at the Bureau of Customs. But Teodoro, 69, a retired customs examiner appraiser, said he had not done so, adding that he met the former President only once in Tolosa, the hometown of Imelda, the former first lady.

Allies of Duterte

Neither does he plan to ask for help from Ferdinand’s only son, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on behalf of his son, Marvin.

Incidentally, the Marcoses are allies of President Duterte, who earlier issued a statement that no police officer would be sent to jail in the course of his brutal campaign against illegal drugs.

Marvin was among the CIDG regional operatives who were recommended to be charged with the murder of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and another detainee, Raul Yap, inside their cells at the subprovincial jail in Baybay City, Leyte, on Nov. 5.

Marvin’s consent

The police team barged into the cells of Espinosa and Yap, purportedly to serve a search warrant for illegal drugs and a gun when they were allegedly fired upon by the two detainees.

The operation had the consent of Marvin, CIDG regional head, who did not inform his superiors or the provincial government that runs the facility about it.

Senators and the National Bureau of Investigation found the killing of Espinosa and Yap premeditated.

During the Senate inquiry, confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, son of the slain mayor, alleged that Marvin was among the police officials in Eastern Visayas who received money from him in exchange for protection.

The money was supposed to be used by Marvin’s wife, Marites, a nurse who ran for vice mayor in Pastrana town but landed last in a three-cornered fight.

In denying the charges, Marcos claimed that he and his wife had been separated for three years.

But, according to his father, Marites went to New Zealand to work as a nurse for three years, which might have triggered the separation.

When Marvin was home in Tacloban after the Senate hearing, his wife came to their house to visit him in Barangay Caibaan, Tacloban.

Father a columnist

Teodoro, who writes a column in a local newspaper owned by his sister, did not believe the allegation that Marvin was involved in illegal drugs.

“He also kept on telling me on why should people believe a drug lord more than a police officer like him,” the father said.

He said Marvin, 44, was “not that rich” and had even asked him if he could build his house inside their 800-square-meter compound in 2011.

His only worry was Marvin’s promotion to senior superintendent due to the controversy, though he was confident his son would hurdle it.

Marvin is the second of the six children of Teodoro and his wife, Evelyn, who is now based in the United States with their eldest daughter. All his siblings are professionals—three of whom are working abroad.

Marcos was a graduate of civil engineering at the now defunct Divine Word University in Tacloban where he was a campus figure and was executive officer of the Reserved Officers Training Corps.

An uncle, who was working in city jail, encouraged him to become either a policeman or soldier.

Teodoro prevailed upon his son to enter the Philippine National Police because it was easier. Marvin passed the PNP Academy entrance examination in 1992, the year he graduated from college.

His first assignment was in Cebu. He returned to Leyte as a member of the elite Special Action Force. He met Marites at the clinic of the PNP regional headquarters in Palo.

He was later given assignments in Metro Manila and in Mindanao as a member of Task Force Anti-Illegal Gambling.

Marcos then returned to Eastern Visayas to head the CIDG.

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