與菲律賓前第一夫人伊梅爾達共進午餐

????我很快就發現，伊梅爾達依然陶醉于她往昔的形象——一位富裕得令人難以置信的國際名人。她同時還認為，這種形象應該是一項讓她的子民倍感自豪的資本。談到高更的那幅油畫時，她接連說出了一連串著名人物的名字?！斑@是阿莫德?哈默送我的禮物。是我把他介紹到中國的，他在那里完成了一個大型水電項目?！笨蛷d一面墻壁上非常醒目地掛著一張毛澤東對她行吻手禮的大幅照片。伊梅爾達說：“毛澤東告訴我，他統一了一個國家，但不得不用槍桿子做到這一點，而我們用愛就把一個國家聯合在了一起?！边@是她經常講述的眾多軼事之一。

????我們其實吃了兩頓午餐，因為伊梅爾達第二天邀請我重返她的公寓。第一頓飯是壽司，尤其令我印象深刻的是一瓶印有她個人照片的起泡紅酒。第二頓是用一個轉盤呈送上來的芝士漢堡和奶昔。第一次午餐后，她播放了一段1985年在克里姆林宮舉行的前蘇聯領導人康斯坦丁?契爾年科的葬禮視頻。一長排國家元首向戈爾巴喬夫致意，其中包括德國總理科爾和英國首相撒切爾夫人?！暗乙恢闭驹诘谝粋€！”伊梅爾達自豪地說。

????與女王陣勢相伴的，是她母儀天下的一面——伊梅爾達力圖把自己描繪為窮人和受壓迫人民的守護者。宣揚這個訊息讓她在政治上獲得了成功。伊梅爾達目前正在履行第二個國會議員任期，代表的是其亡夫的家鄉，菲律賓最重要的省份之一北伊羅戈省。在任這項職位期間，她已經在該地區建造了11座“慈母中心”。這些機構不僅派遣救護車救助生病的貧農，還提供就業輔導和法律咨詢服務。她聲稱，這些設施是她自己出錢興建的。在弗朗西斯科?塔塔德看來，這些慈母中心讓人想起了伊梅爾達在擔任第一夫人期間展現出來的創造力。塔塔德曾在菲律賓已故總統費迪南德?馬科斯麾下擔任過11年的公共信息部長，現在是一位著名的專欄作家和政治顧問。伊梅爾達曾經竭力推廣菲律賓的土特產，而且她的推銷方式極具原創性。一個星期天，塔塔德帶我參觀根據伊梅爾達的創意建造而成、目前作為副總統官邸的椰子宮( Coconut Palace)。他回憶說，居于幕后的伊梅爾達其實扮演著這項工程的“工頭”角色，監督管理設計和施工的每一個細節。它的基本思路是，充分展示作為菲律賓主要農作物之一的椰子的多種用途。這棟宅邸的房間大多為六面形，柱子、裝飾線條，百葉窗和家居都是用椰子木制作的。

????伊梅爾達仍然是菲律賓第二大政治家族的女族長，這個家族的政治影響力僅次于執政的阿基諾家族?，F任總統阿基諾三世的祖父曾經是費迪南德?馬科斯的盟友，隨后成為他的死對頭，最終遭到暗殺。這起暗殺事件引發的民眾抗議促使費迪南德黯然下臺。伊梅爾達的女兒目前擔任北伊羅戈省省長。綽號為“邦邦”(Bongbong)的兒子小費迪南德現在是代表北伊羅戈省的參議員，他或許將在2016年大選中挑戰阿基諾三世的總統寶座。她的侄子阿爾弗雷德?羅穆亞爾德斯現任塔克洛班市市長。塔克洛班市是超級臺風海燕的重災區，這場災難已經重新點燃了阿基諾家族和馬科斯-羅穆亞爾德斯家族之間的累世宿仇。前者聲稱市長的反應不稱職，后者則宣稱阿基諾三世完全是出于兩大家族的政治對立，才遲遲不愿給予至關重要的救援。

????伊梅爾達的家人正在支持一項史詩般的能源事業。我們共進午餐期間，她不厭其煩地宣揚，事無巨細地聊者她的這項事業。她和她的支持者相信，菲律賓沿岸的深海海溝儲藏著巨額重水資源——這種名為氘的化合物是由海底深處的巨大壓力自然形成的。根據媒體的廣泛報道，她正在籌集資金，以挖掘這種氘化物。在伊梅爾達看來，這種氘化物有望成為轎車和飛機的氫氣動力。它不僅成本極低，而且沒有任何污染。“它將拯救地球！”她宣稱。

????It's immediately clear that Imelda still relishes her image as an incredibly wealthy international celebrity, and reckons that image should be a great source of pride for her people. When I mention the Gauguin, the parade of famous names begins. "It was a present from Armand Hammer. I introduced him to China, where he did a big hydroelectric project." A large photo of Mao Tse-Tung kissing her hand dominates a living room wall. "Mao told me that he'd united a country, but had to do it with guns, and that we'd united a country with love," says Imelda, unfurling one of the many anecdotes she repeats frequently.

????We actually had lunch twice, since she invited me back the next day. The first meal was sushi, the second cheeseburgers served on a lazy susan turntable with milk shakes. After the first lunch, which featured a red sparkling wine with her photo on the bottle, she showed a video of Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko's funeral in the Kremlin in 1985. A long line of heads of state greet Mikhail Gorbachev, among them Helmut Kohl of Germany and Margaret Thatcher of the U.K., "but I was always first in line!" boasts Imelda.

????Along with the regal side comes the mothering -- Imelda strives to portray herself as a champion of the poor and downtrodden. She's a success in politics selling that message. Imelda is now serving a second term as a congresswoman from Ilocos Norte, her late husband's province, and one of the nation's most important. In that role, she has built 11 "Mothering Centers" in the region, facilities that dispatch ambulances to rescue poor farmers who fall ill, and provide job counseling and legal advice. And she claims to be funding the centers with her own money. The Mothering Centers, says Francisco "Kit" Tatad, the Minister of Public Information for 11 years under the late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, and now a prominent columnist and political advisor, are a reminder of the creativity Imelda displayed as First Lady. She strove to promote the nation's native products, and found extremely original ways to do it. Tatad took me on a Sunday tour of the Coconut Palace, an Imelda creation that is currently the workplace for the Vice President. He recalls that Imelda virtually served as "foreman" on the project, supervising every detail of design and construction. The idea was to show the versatility of one of the nation's leading agricultural crops. The entire mansion, consisting mainly of six-side rooms, is made from coconut wood, including the columns, moldings, shutters, even the furniture.

????Imelda remains matriarch of the second most powerful political clan in the country to the reigning Aquinos, led by president Benigno Aquino III, whose grandfather was once Ferdinand Marcos's ally, then his rival, and whose assassination unleashed the popular protest that deposed Ferdinand. Her daughter Imee Marcos is the governor of Ilocos Norte. Her son Ferdinand, Jr., nicknamed "Bongbong," is a senator from the home province and a probable candidate to challenge Aquino in 2016. Her nephew, Alfred Romauldez, is the mayor of Tacloban, the city hardest hit by typhoon Yolanda. The disaster has ignited a new feud between the Aquino and Marcos-Romauldez dynasties, with the former claiming the mayor's response is incompetent, and the latter alleging that Aquino is withholding crucial support because of the clans' political rivalry.

????Imelda's family is standing behind a typically epic energy venture that she is tirelessly promoting and spoke about extensively during our lunches. She and her backers are convinced that the deep ocean trenches off the coast of the Philippines contain gigantic reserves of heavy water -- a compound called deuterium -- that is naturally created by the immense pressure at the depths of the ocean floor. It's been extensively reported that she's attempting to raise money to mine that deuterium, which would emerge as hydrogen gas to power cars and airplanes at extremely low cost, with zero pollution. "It will save the planet!" she declares.