FIRST SPOUSE AS STATE SYMBOL

By Philip M. Lustre Jr.

Modern democracies, particularly those that have a presidential system like the United States and the Philippines, have the ubiquitous presence of the first spouse, or presidential consort. The first spouse is officially called first lady for a male president, or first gentleman for a female president.

The office of the first spouse does not exist; he or she does not exercise official functions and receives no salary. But since he or she accompanies the president, the presidential husband or wife wittingly or unwittingly provides inputs into the dynamics of the presidency. The extent of influence depends on the first spouse’s character, personality, persuasive skills, will and determination – all rolled into one.

The spouse of every presidential candidate is part of the political package his team presents to the voters during the campaign period. The first spouse is part the political team the winning presidential candidate brings to Malacanang. Ergo, he or she is part of the presidency.

Two of the six post-Marcos era presidents – mother Corazon Aquino and son Benigno Aquino III - have no spouses. Three other presidents – Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – have spouses, but their presence gave varying results and perceptions. Rodrigo Duterte has a sicly wife, but he has a presidential consort in his mistress.

As the presidential job gets more complex and challenging, an activist first spouse becomes a political imperative. A proactive, dynamic, and passionate first spouse does not only mean fulfillment of presidential objectives; it ensures stability and continuity as the president and the first spouse jointly tackle the imperatives of nationbuilding.

An activist first spouse is different from an interventionist one. An activist presidential wife or husband thinks of the nation, while he or she helps the president fulfills his mandate; an interventionist first spouse thinks of herself or himself. He or she is different from the other extreme version – the passive presidential partner, who hardly participates and, ergo, has chosen to stay on the sidelines.

The American experience

The concept of first lady is essentially an American invention. In copying the U.S political system, which is the presidential system, the Philippines, a former colony, did not miss the accompanying concept of first lady. Every first lady in the U.S. or in the Philippines is unique in her own ways. She is definitely part of the presidency.

The American first lady is not just wife, mother, and homemaker in the traditional sense of a marital partner. Although she is traditionally the ceremonial functionary, who cuts ribbons or attends to civic projects and hosts official functions at the White House, she is a political partner too.

While previous first ladies did not interfere in their partners’ presidential duties and tended to be apolitical as much as possible, the first spouses, particularly the modern-day ones and depending on their individual temperament, have played bigger roles in every presidency. In some instances, they have functioned as power brokers or the power behind the throne.

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin Roosevelt, the longest reigning U.S. president, who was elected for four consecutive four-year terms, was the prototype of a modern-day activist first lady. She had civic projects like leading the U.S. National Red Cross and providing jobs for victims of the U.S Depression in the 1930s. But her activism extended to her unprecedented influence on the crafting of public policy as well.

Showing independence from husband Franklin, strong-willed Eleanor, during her husband’s 12 years in office (he died in 1945, or 85 days after he started serving his fourth term), wrote newspaper columns on varying subjects, held weekly press conferences to air publicly her opinions on raging issues, visited foreign countries and talked to their leaders, and met U.S. congressional leaders to give inputs on many issues.

Although she and her husband led separate lives, Eleanor was politically active and Franklin did not rein her. She held a news conference minutes after husband died and promptly told Vice President Harry Truman that he had to assume the presidency immediately.

Until her death in 1962, Eleanor led a public life. She was reputed to have influenced the 1948 crafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Critics and admirers alike promptly proclaimed Eleanor Roosevelt as the “first lady of the world.” She never sought public office – elective or appointive.

Proactive first ladies

Although Eleanor Roosevelt redefined the first lady’s role in U.S politics, her successors did not lose sight of her accomplishments, as they followed her trail. Bess Truman, wife of Harry Truman, did not only perform the traditional household management, but answered the President’s numerous mails and influenced congressional leaders to provide additional funds for the National Institute of Health. Moreover, her tempering presence prevented sudden outbursts of her husband’s fiery temper.

Mamie Eisenhower, wife of Dwight Eisenhower, stuck to her roles as wife and household manager, but she nevertheless provided what could be regarded a softer side for the usually stiff military husband, who commanded the Allied forces in Europe during the last world war. Although as sickly as her husband, who suffered a heart attack while in office, Mamie was reputed to have convinced her husband to run for a second term in 1956.

John F. Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, was at the White House for almost three years, but she proactively put her stamp as a woman of art, as she led in its renovation showcasing pieces of art works and new furniture. She stood beside Lyndon Johnson wearing pink clothes stained with her husband’s blood when the latter took his oath as president.

It was the pair of issue-oriented Lady Bird Johnson, wife of Lyndon Johnson, and Rosalynn Carter, wife of Jimmy Carter, who continued Eleanor Roosevelt’s legacy as activist first lady, as they redefined on her terms the first lady’s role in U.S politics. Lady Bird was the first to employ a fulltime press secretary to attend to her media requirements. Rosalynn took mental health as advocacy and influenced public policy. 

Fiercely devoted to her husband, Lady Bird nurtured Lyndon’s political career, providing funds for and leading in his political campaigns. As first lady, Lady Bird, a journalism graduate, knew and understood the meaning of good press for Lyndon, as she cultivated relations with the Washington media. She took the beautification of public places as her main advocacy and lobbied for the enactment of the National Highways Beautification Law.

Richard Nixon’s wife, Pat, had stuck to family life, but she also led in the continuation of White House’s renovation. At the height of the Watergate scandal in 1974, Pat persuaded her husband to burn the controversial White House tapes because they constituted part of his private diary and, ergo, were not public property. Her husband ignored her pleas. But she was best remembered for standing behind her husband, when the latter announced on television his resignation as president in 1974.

Betty Ford, wife of Gerard Ford, the only president, who was not popularly elected in U.S. history, was a determined woman, whom her husband gave credit for helping him in his career. Equally strong-willed, Betty persuaded her husband to grant presidential pardon to Nixon in 1975. Even Ford publicly acknowledged her wife for convincing him to grant the controversial pardon. 

Departing from the traditional roles as a household manager and hostess, Rosalynn Carter, with tacit approval and encouragement from her husband, sat in during cabinet meetings and represented her husband in several foreign missions. Although she had no official position, Rosalynn pursued policy issues as well, as if she was part of her husband’s diplomatic team. Her high profile foreign missions were questioned if they had binding effects on U.S. bilateral relations with countries she visited.

During the negotiations at Camp David in 1978, Rosalynn did not prepare the sleeping rooms of the visiting Israeli and Palestinian delegations, but participated in the drafting of the Camp David accord that partially settled the differences of the two warring nations. She took notes of the 12-day negotiations, providing the materials for a chapter of her autobiography.

Interventionist first ladies

During those days, the idea of an activist first lady had gained public acceptance, but it was Nancy Reagan, wife of Ronald Reagan, who gained the notoriety for exercising what was termed as “associate presidency.” Although she had advocacy, which included drug abuse, and civic projects to attend, Nancy took the high profile when her husband was assassinated, speaking on his behalf and receiving his guests.

When her husband underwent cancer treatment and, therefore, had to reduce his working hours, Nancy attended to state functions, receiving foreign guests and quietly exercised presidential powers, including making key appointments. Nancy was described as the “indispensable” half of the presidency, who exercised enormous clout in key decisions. She was widely described as a key presidential adviser.

Nancy’s influence was best observed by the two telephone calls, which Imelda Marcos did to persuade her to influence her husband to avoid withdrawing U.S. support to the Marcos dictatorship. Nancy received those two calls from Imelda during the waning hours of the Marcos dictatorship. Nancy did not act on Imelda’s frantic calls and Reagan, upon the advice of the State Department, withdrew support to the Marcos regime, ending its 20-year rule.

Even Donald Regan, Reagan’s chief of staff, admitted in his memoirs, the interventionist role played by Nancy, as the latter unilaterally cancelled scheduled press conferences and meetings, citing the presidential health as reasons for those cancellations. She virtually exercised veto powers, as if she were the president.

Barbara Bush’s stay at the White House was widely described as uneventful, even as she proved to be a devoted wife of George Bush and an advocate of the fight against AIDS. It was Hillary Clinton, wife of Bill Clinton, who stole the show, as she showed the way for being an activist first lady during the 1990s.

Expanded role

The expanded role of American first ladies became evident when Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992 and assigned Hillary in 1993 to chair a task force to work on the proposed national health care reform program as a major policy agenda of the Clinton administration. Bill had all the reasons to assign her to that critical job. They had almost identical resumes; they were law graduates of Yale University. Besides, Hillary earlier chaired a task force on educational reforms when Bill was Arkansas governor.

Hillary succeeded in the Arkansas task force, but she did not succeed in the White House task force. But it somehow confirmed that first ladies could take the expanded role as active partners in the pursuit of strategic public policies. She later worked with congressional leaders for the enactment of the state program for children’s health insurance and creation of the office against violence on women at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Hillary later metamorphosed into a political leader in her own right. She was elected senator representing New York in 2001 and held to that position until 2008, when she competed unsuccessfully against Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate. She was the state secretary of the Obama’s first four years of presidency. She was the Democratic president candidate but lost to Republican Donald Trump in 2016

Learning from Hillary’s fiasco on the proposed national health care program, Barack Obama did not bother to name wife Michelle to head any task force that would deal with reforms. But it has not deterred Michelle from pursuing legislative initiatives to ensure the enactment of certain reform oriented bills and speak on her own advocacy.

Michelle had aided in the enactment of proposed measures promoting equal rights for women and housing for the homeless, including war veterans. As part of her advocacy, Michelle has taken initiatives in the fight against childhood obesity and grant of wider latitudes for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. But unlike Hillary, Michelle had disavowed any political plans.

Philippine experience

Hilaria Aguinaldo, wife of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, president of the First Philippine Republic, was the country’s first spouse. But it was Aurora Quezon, wife of Manuel Quezon, president of the Philippine Commonwealth Republic, who enjoyed the honorific title of first lady. At that time, the Philippines was a colony of the United States.

As first lady, Dona Aurora participated in the fight for women’s suffrage, or right to vote, and led civic organizations like the Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) and Damas de las Islas Filipinas, a civil society organization that helped orphans. She actively led the Philippine National Red Cross as its first chair even after the death of her husband. She died in an ambush perpetrated by Hukbalahap rebels in 1949.

Paciencia Laurel, wife of wartime president Jose Laurel, and Esperanza Osmena, wife of Sergio Osmena Sr., who assumed the presidency after Quezon’s death, followed Dona Aurora’s example. Although little was known about their contributions, they were reputed to have been active in charity works.

Trinidad Roxas, the gregarious wife of Manuel Roxas, first president of postwar Republic, took part in charity works and pursued Christmas gift giving in Malacanang, but not much was written about her activities. Victoria Quirino, daughter of Elpidio Quirino, acted as the first lady because his father was a widower. Like Dona Trinidad, she was active in socio-civic projects and charity works. They were largely apolitical as they took distance from the political aspects of the presidency.

It was the trio of Luz Banzon-Magsaysay, Leonila Garcia, and Evangelina Macapagal, who further actualized the role of a first lady. Although they took a distance from their husbands’ political works and proclivities, the trio actively supported civic projects, providing them the virtual presidential attention and presence.

Evangelina, wife of Diosdado Macapagal, led the initial renovation of Malacanang and Luneta Park. She actively accompanied her husband in foreign trips that sought to strengthen the country’s bilateral relations with other countries. As a medical doctor, Evangelina led medical missions in several areas.

‘Conjugal dictatorship’

Everything changed when the ambitious, hard-driving Imelda Marcos, wife of dictator Ferdinand Marcos became the first spouse. To describe her as an activist first lady is an understatement. She was essentially an interventionist first spouse, who led partly in the institutionalization of one-man rule in the country.

Imelda Marcos was notorious for going beyond her role as first lady; she constituted the other half of what was termed as the “conjugal dictatorship.”

As the first lady, Imelda led the massive facelift, and renovation of the Luneta Park and Rizal Park, reclamation of the Manila Bay to pave the way for the construction of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, and the launch of the so-called “green revolution,” which sought to encourage ordinary citizens to plant vegetables in their backyards. She attended to numerous civic projects, including those involving arts and letters.

Imelda’s ascent to the power structure became more pronounced immediately after her husband declared martial law in 1972 and imposed one-man rule.  Marcos sent her to various foreign missions, including meeting Libyan strongman Moammar Ghadafi to negotiate for a stop in the Mindanao war and a possible truce with the Muslim separatist rebels. Marcos later named her as human settlements minister, allowing her to lead a major faction in the martial law coalition of forces.

Shortly before the 1972 declaration of martial law, Marcos thought of fielding her in the 1973 presidential elections, but upon realizing that the opposition forces led by Senators Benigno Aquino Jr. and Gerardo Roxas would defeat her in fair and honest elections, the strongman had opted to declare martial law and impose a dictatorship instead. In 1978, Imelda led the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan ticket in Metro Manila and won over the Laban ticket of Benigno Aquino Jr. in parliamentary elections widely believed rigged to favor the Marcos forces.

She and her family went on nearly five years of exile in the U.S. in the aftermath of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship and kicked them out of Malacanang. They returned in 1991; she ran and lost in the 1992 presidential elections, placing fifth in a field of seven candidates.

As the other half of the conjugal dictatorship, Imelda was hounded by many controversies, which included her extravagant lifestyle said to be among the reasons for the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship. She gained international notoriety for her wild shopping sprees abroad and acquisition of ill-gotten wealth here and abroad estimated at between $5 billion to $10 billion.

Post-Marcos first spouses

Corazon Aquino, a widow, did not have a first spouse, but her successor, Fidel Ramos had Amelita, nicknamed “Ming,” who established her presence as a patroness of sports and active civil society supporter.

Joseph Estrada had his legal wife, Eloisa, a psychiatrist, as first lady for 30 months until he was toppled in the second EDSA People Power Revolution in 2001. Jose Miguel Arroyo assumed the post of first spouse when Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took over as president on January 17, 2001.

Mike Arroyo has gained international notoriety for being the power behind the throne. He was reputedly the fixer, who worked behind the scene to silence the opposition against his wife. But he had his own share of controversies. He was perceived as an interventionist first spouse, who was subject of various congressional investigations, although the corruption charges were mostly unproven.

For instance, months after her wife took over, the former first gentleman was accused of receiving bribe to have a presidential veto withdrawn. Veronica "Bing" Rodrigo, former correspondence secretary and friend of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, alleged that the First Gentleman received a P50-million bribe for the president to recall her veto of the franchise bills of the Philippine Communication Clearinghouse and APC Wireless Interface Network. Rodrigo retracted her accusations a few days later.

In late 2001, Robert Rivero, a media consultant of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), alleged the illegal use of PCSO funds by the controversial first spouse for the political campaign of certain senatorial candidates. He said Arroyo paid P20.5 million to Bombo Radyo and Radio Mindanao Network for the airing of pro-administration commentaries. The PCSO publicity department denied Rivero's accusations.

'Jose Pidal" bank accounts

The country was shaken in 2003, when Lacson accused the former first gentleman of maintaining secret bank accounts under the name of "Jose Pidal" mainly to launder campaign funds for the 1998 vice presidential bid of his wife. He denied the allegations, but not without his late brother, Ignacio, admitting that those Jose Pidal accounts were his and did not belong to his brother.

In several Senate hearings on “jueteng,” the illegal numbers game, the first gentleman was accused of receiving “protection money” from its underground operators, prompting him to stay in the U.S. for a while "to remove distractions and doubts from people’s minds" on his wife’s ability to run the country.

But the biggest challenge to the Arroyo presidency happened in 2005, when the "Hello Garci" scandal broke out. It prompted the breakaway of certain coalition allies, putting the president on the edge of her seat.

In his testimony in a Senate public hearing, Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, a Philippine Marines official, alleged that the former first gentleman flew to Mindanao twice in a private helicopter days before the 2004 presidential polls to deliver P500 million in boxes. Gudani, who was detailed in two Lanao provinces, alleged that he witnessed vote-buying and other election irregularities in his area.

In 2006, the Senate wrapped up a series of hearings on the multimillion peso fertilizer fund scam, concluding that agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc" Bolante, Mike Arroyo's friend, diverted agricultural funds to the 2004 electoral campaign of Mrs. Arroyo.

Also in 2006, another controversy involving the former first spouse broke out when Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that a member of the Arroyo family had maintained a bank account in Germany with hundreds of million dollar deposits. Mike Arroyo flew to Germany and secured a certification from the bank to disprove Cayetano's claims. Upon his return, he sought Cayetano's expulsion from Congress.

These were not all. The testimonies of Jose de Venecia III and Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. in the public hearings of the Senate probe on the national broadband network project linked Mike Arroyo to another multimillion dollar controversy. De Venecia III claimed the former first spouse told him to "back off" from the project, which went to Chinese firm ZTE Corp. De Venecia III was a majority shareholder of one of the proponents of the NBN project.

Lozada claimed that then Commission on Elections chair Benjamin Abalos phoned the former first spouse to discuss the NBN project. Lozada also claimed that Abalos, de Venecia, and Mike Arroyo met for dinner around the time that the ZTE executives were following up on the project.

Duterte's spouse

President Rodrigo Duterte has a sickly legal spouse and several paramours but he earlier publicly said that his controversial daughter, Sarah, would be the first lady. Sara Davao City's mayor, was widely criticized for slapping a public official, who was enforcing a demolition order against informal settlers in the southern port city. She is said to have a violent temper like his father.

It appears that not one of the women in Duterte's life - legal wife or paramours - have assumed prominence to become the virtual first spouse. Not even daughter Sara has taken the mantle of authority to be the fist spouse.

Symbol of the state

The peculiarity of the country’s presidential system stems from the fact that the president is not just the head of government; he is also the head of state. This explains why the incumbent president has to be a paragon of virtues too.

As head of state and government, the president is perceived as the symbol of the state. He has to embody the very essence of nationhood. But this is not limited to the incumbent president; it extends to the legal spouse, or the first spouse. Hence, the first spouse must be the symbol of the state too.