Birthday cheers for first lady
Marcos family, friends, students surprise Liza Marcos as she turns 63
First lady Liza Araneta-Marcos (LAM) got probably one the biggest surprises of her life after her husband and sons, along with their friends and other members of their family, threw her a surprise birthday party as she turned 63 on Aug. 21, Sunday.
In a video uploaded to President Marcos’ YouTube and Facebook pages, the First Lady was visibly shocked when the dark room she had just entered suddenly lit up, and cheers of “Happy Birthday!” greeted her.
In a short speech, presidential son Ilocos Norte First District Representative Sandro Marcos poked fun at his mother for being embarrassed about the surprise party.
“I can see my mom getting nahihiya (embarrassed) and telling Carmela that she’s fired and telling Eve that she’s fired and that everyone who organized this is now fired,” he said. “Mom, happy happy birthday! We all love you so, so much.”
The second half of the rookie congressman’s greeting also came with a “threat,” a cute and funny one that gave a glimpse of how tightly-knit the first family is. “PS you better be nice to me or I might have to post pictures of you crying after reading Dad’s birthday card this morning,” Rep. Marcos said, tongue-in-cheek.
Introduced as well to further surprise the matriarch of the first family was a video made for her—a “remake” of her favorite song “My Favorite Things” from the movie The family replaced the song’s lyrics to describe LAM as someone who is organized. It also showed her as someone who likes “editing documents and having a drink” and “screenshots messages and sends them to friends.”
The video, which featured LAM’s head superimposed over Julie Andrews’ body, made the first lady blush and laugh at the same time.
Birthday cheers from Iloilo
On Friday, two days before her birthday, the first lady visited the West Visayas State University (WVSU) in Iloilo City, where she gave away iPads and textbooks to her law students.
“A very Happy Birthday to First Lady, Atty. Liza Araneta-Marcos, who is celebrating her birthday today, Aug. 21,” said society magazine publisher Joe Marie Agriam in a video posted on Facebook. “Last Friday, she was greeted with a hearty birthday song by her students. In return, she gifted her students with 36 iPads and textbooks. How lucky are her students!”
Despite protests from some students and Ilonggos, the first lady came to WVSU to officially kick off her stint teaching Criminal Law at the College of Law.
Aside from the students, also seen in the video is WVSU president Dr. Joselito Villaruz, who said the first applied to be a faculty of the WVSU
College of Law and was accepted based on her credentials.
He said that the First Lady wanted to teach law in Iloilo because of her strong roots. Her father Manuel Araneta Jr. is from Iloilo City while her mother Milagros Ledesma Cacho is also from Iloilo.
Mayor Jerry Treñas here and Iloilo City Rep. Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda have urged Ilonggos to put politics aside and let the first lady teach at WVSU.
This city and Iloilo are known as bailiwicks of the opposition. Former Vice President Leni Robredo secured more votes than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the May 2022 elections. (With reports from Ellson A. Quismorio and Tara Yap)