The devil wears reptile

They say that a bag is a woman’s best friend. It represents your social status, aspirations, and wealth. But the recent appearance of Senator Imee Marcos’s “talk of the senate” crocodile bag doesn’t fulfill any of the things a bag represents—it only shows irony.

As ghost flood control project issues fill the talk of the Senate of the Philippines, last September 9 made it even more sensational and interesting as Sen. Imee Marcos walked into the Senate wearing a P2,574 crocodile ‘BB’ bag from Temu. 

Moreover, her bag was specially mentioned by the Majority Floor Leader, Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, saying, “I have never seen such a unique bag,” while Sen. Marcos illuminates a smile on her face.

Along with a video of Sen. Marcos joyfully exhibiting her crocodile bag while mindlessly saying, “Nakahuli na ‘ko ng isa. Dapat makulong silang lahat,” states that she’s a great pretender while practicing a “hardworking politician” demeanor but still reeks of being a hypocrite herself. 

Furthermore, she might think that her ‘BB’ bag may tone down the heat in the discussion in the Senate regarding the flood control projects, but instead she became a laughing stock and was called a hypocrite for wearing her family's own reflection. 

Some might contemplate what a crocodile symbol means in the Philippines; it typifies corruption and greedy politicians who abuse power and pinch government funds for their own gain. 

Somehow, it resonates with me how similarly the family of Sen. Marcos checks the list of what being a crocodile means.

That is, according to a report in 1985 by the United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Stephen Bosworth estimated that the Marcoses had stolen a massive fortune of US$10 billion. This fortune incorporates real estate assets within the Philippines and several other countries, artworks, jewelry, actual cash assets, and bank accounts, particularly in the United States, Singapore, Switzerland, and the British Virgin Islands. Later on, the Supreme Court of the Philippines, on July 15, 2003, ruled that over 25 billion pesos worth of assets of the Marcos family were considered “ill-gotten wealth.”

It was later followed by a nearly two-decade legal ordeal between the Philippine Government and the Marcos family over the custody of these assets, secured in diverse Swiss bank accounts. 

Forby, it is said by the Philippine Courts that the different assets, or the “ill-gotten wealth” of the Marcos family were obtained through illicit means during the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos from 1965 up to 1986. 

Personally, isn’t it already sketchy or fishy that a public servant's family flaunts and flashes on national TV wearing luxury, high-end, named brands while the economy of the Philippines back then was rapidly deteriorating? Or even the wife of former president Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda Marcos, showcases a massive shoe collection of 3,000 pairs—even though, according to a study by Britannica Kids, the annual salary of former president Ferdinand Marcos was only $5,700. 

Also, to ponder having multiple mansions around and outside the Philippines and living like a royal family already states the obvious—a family full of crocodiles. Not to mention that they hold such a notorious name when it comes to political dynasties—namely, like a parasite preying over all the positions in Ilocos Norte.

Moreover, according to Medium on February 10, 2025, by the time Marcos Sr. held the position of the presidency, he hit the ground running, forming a faltering regime—rapidly sinking the Philippines into ruin with his project on “modernizing” infrastructure even though the funds of the desired project were heavily loaned from other countries—skyrocketing the foreign deficit from $360 million to around $28.3 billion, according to an article in Philstar Global by Deni Rose M. Afinidad-Bernardo in 2017. 

And some might wonder: didn’t former President Marcos Sr. build a mass project of infrastructure that is still being used today? Well, to technically answer, yes. But did it make the lives of Filipinos easy? No. Let me break down facts: There are notable projects that Marcos Sr. built during his term as president—particularly, the Philippine Heart Center, the Lung Center of the Philippines, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (never operated), the San Juanico Bridge, the Manila Film Center, and many more. While it might be a center of applause, it caused more harm than good. 

According to economist Emmanuel de Dios and colleagues at the University of the Philippines, who wrote in 1984, the mass projects of Marcos Sr. were “not productive, and many were outrightly wasteful.” 

Furthermore, that was the cause of the pile of debt that we are still paying today through taxes. According to expert estimates, it will take the country up to 2025 to fully pay the debt, almost 40 years after the EDSA People Power Revolution. Frankly, I still think that the debt grew larger and larger by the year, with a whopping 17.27 trillion PHP as of July 2025 after 7 presidencies, according to the Department of Finance. Effectively, if each of us in the Philippines were to pay the said debt, it would sum up to 153,000 PHP. And with that said, debt—not even a minimum wage worker nor a corporate employee could pay off a one hundred thousand peso and up debt, but it would make the lives of Filipinos even harder and would sink them into financial hardship.

In the end, the appearance of the crocodile bag of Sen. Marcos not only shows irony, but it also shows the history, hypocrisy, and misery of Filipinos during the rule of their family. If someone from their family were to depict a crocodile, it would be a reflection of their own flesh and blood.

Nevertheless, at this time when our country is surrounded and drowned by deception, it’s much better to side with our people, who want change, growth, and accountability towards a transparent, honest nation.