Marcos Fact Checks

Marcos Family did not calmly escape from Malacañang

Lorenz Pasion

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Marcos Family did not calmly escape from Malacañang
Multiple reports and accounts indicate that the Marcoses fled the Palace in a hurry

Claim: The late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and his family calmly left Malacañang palace during the EDSA People Power revolution.  

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The claim was a scene in the movie Maid in Malacañang. The movie made it appear that the Marcoses were not in a hurry to leave the Palace. Marcos and his daughter Imee supposedly even took the time to check if their outfits looked good on them.  

Fled in a hurry: Multiple reports and accounts illustrate that the Marcoses fled the Palace in a hurry:

  • A Business Day report on February 27, 1986, entitled, “Signs of Hasty Departure At The Palace,” said that the Marcoses left a lavish, half-eaten meal in their silver service.”
  •  A Manila Times report on February 27, 1986, entitled, “Palace Shows Signs of Frantic Escape” also reported that “scrawled notes were on the presidential desk, and a pile of bullets and guns lay on the floor, among others.” 

Packed in haste: Arturo C. Aruiza, Marcos’ military aide for 21 years, recounts in his book, Ferdinand E. Marcos: Malacañang to Makiki how the Palace became busier as different kinds of luggage were transported to the Heroes Hall of Malacañang:

“The traffic between the bedroom upstairs and Heroes Hall below grew more frenzied as all kinds of luggage made their way down. There were carton boxes, garment bags, duffel bags, traveling bags, leather bags, attaché cases, Louis Vuitton bags, suitcases, and just plain boxes packed but their flaps left unsealed.”

“Back in the Palace that last night, things were in an uproar, all of us running around, grabbing at possessions, shouting last-minute instructions, trying to remember admonitions.” 

– Loreben Tuquero and Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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author

Lorenz Pasion

Lorenz Pasion is a researcher at Rappler and a member of its fact-check team that debunks false claims that spread on social media.