Three reports on Marcos Jr.’s birthday concert recall his family history of lavish parties 

CHEERS TO Rappler, Interaksyon, and BusinessWorld for providing the relevant background of lavish parties hosted by his parents, Ferdinand and Imelda, in reports on Marcos Jr.’s  67^th birthday bash this month – a celebration which featured Duran Duran, an English pop rock band, concert. 

The rest of the media stayed close to routine, following the day’s special events. Reports cited the wording of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) describing how the President spent his birthday “as just another busy day in the office, with the same dedication to his job that has marked his presidency.” PCO added Marcos Jr.’s official engagements for the day, visiting farmers and patients in public hospitals, as reflecting the President’s “signature compassion for the needy.” 

Glenda Gloria’s newsletter reminded Rappler’s readers that “that’s how things began” – from parties to properties to “millions of dollars stashed elsewhere.” Her list included the parties at which Imelda Marcos hosted her celebrity friends, including the socialite Cristina Ford, wife of Ford Motor Company CEO Henry Ford II, and the two-day birthday celebration for Marcos Sr. in September 1973, a year after the declaration of Martial Law, which culminated with a tribute from military generals performing “in garish female attire” to honor their commander-in-chief. 

Gloria noted that the PCO press statement creatively combined Marcos Jr.’s official engagements, with the casual note: “after a tiring day filled with official engagements, he attended a party thrown by his old friends at a hotel in Pasay, and to his surprise and appreciation, music was provided by Duran Duran.”

Gloria reviewed the early display of Marcos Jr’s fun-loving ways. He hosted a birthday party for his mother just two days after assuming office. He flew to Singapore to watch the F1 race in 2023 and choppered to the Philippine Arena for the Coldplay concert in 2024. 

Meanwhile, reports by Kyle Aristophere Atienza for BusinessWorld and Jeline Malasig for Interaksyon cited political analysts who observed that the party and concert this year may be a violation of the Code of Conduct for public officials. BusinessWorld calculated that Duran Duran charges as much as $1 million per booking, while Interaksyon said the minimum budget may range from $500,000 to $875,000.

Michael Henry Yusingco, a lawyer and research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center on BusinessWorld and Cielo Magno, former finance undersecretary on Interaksyon said Section 7 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials prohibits public officials and employees from accepting anything of monetary value from any person in the course of their official duties. 

Both articles also cited other lawyers and professors who said that the presidential palace should disclose the identities of the gift-givers or private sponsors, giving a full accounting of expenses. 

All in all, Duran Duran’s performance was not pro bono. The Code of Conduct recognizes that extravagant gifts to Presidents are by their very nature transactional, an exchange of favors and gifts that could lead to questionable conduct. 

Except for the three articles, all other media accounts were satisfied with the assurance that friends of the president paid for Duran Duran’s performance, although none of the reports checked the validity of this claim or what this entails. This lack of judgment raises questions about the capacity of the press to act as a watchdog of power.