Imee Marcos Accuses Brother of Drug Addiction at Rally

Senator Imee Marcos publicly accused her brother, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and members of his immediate family of chronic drug addiction during a large anticorruption rally in Manila on Monday, escalating a deepening family and political rift amid ongoing probes into government graft.

Speaking to an estimated crowd of hundreds of thousands at the Iglesia ni Cristo's Rally for Transparency and a Better Democracy in Luneta Park, the 70-year-old senator claimed the president's alleged cocaine use began in his youth, during the presidency of their father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., and persists today. She alleged that Marcos Jr., his wife, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and their children engage in microdosing and disguise their habits as stem cell treatments or blood transfusions. "His vice is the reason for rampant corruption, lack of direction, wrong decisions, absence of accountability and lack of justice in his government," Imee Marcos said, reading from prepared remarks. She further asserted that the president's diminished capacity allows aides to exploit state funds and drew a parallel to their father's ouster at age 68, noting her brother is now the same age....