A question on an episode of a long-running American television game show went viral for referencing the Philippine president-elect’s father.
In an episode of “Jeopardy!” aired June 21, 2022, contestants were asked to give the question to the following clue:
“In 1986 this Philippine president and his pals stuffed $7.7 million into suitcases and fled to Hawaii, where he died 3 years later”
In the game, answers and clues are given first and then the contestants would supply the questions.
A creative consultant on Twitter shared a picture of the question on Twitter, where it has reached 26,500 likes as of this writing.
Meanwhile, in a recent episode of Jeopardy… pic.twitter.com/lZgozeYnru
— Elmer L. Gatchalian (@elmstweeet) June 21, 2022
Another Twitter user shared a clip of a contestant answering it.
She is identified as Megan Wachspress, a returning champion on the show and introduced as an “attorney from California.”
“Who is Marcos?” she answered.
“Yes, Ferdinand Marcos,” the host said, referring to late Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
The clue is worth $1,200.
A Twitter user who saw Gatchalian’s post claimed that one of the episodes referenced former first lady Imelda Marcos as well.
“I am a fan of Jeopardy. In one episode, the answer was Imelda but the exact question escapes me,” she wrote.
After Marcos Sr. was deposed by the People Power Revolution in 1986, he and his entourage placed “more than $7.7 million in cash and valuables into their suitcases when they fled to Hawaii,” the Los Angeles Times had reported.
The report cited an inventory of the US Customs Service upon the family’s arrival in Hawaii. It was later made public.
“The Customs Service list shows that the Marcoses and 88 family members and associates took more than 400 items of costly jewelry, including a golden crown and three diamond-studded tiaras; more than 60 sets of pearl necklaces and chokers; a $290,000 Burmese ruby, and a diamond-studded ornamental hair comb worth $44,410. The gems and jewelry were valued at $4 million,” the news report continued.
“In addition, Marcos and the rest of his party also transported 22 crates containing $1.2 million in Philippine pesos,” it further said.
Hawaii News Now reported that it was late US president Ronald Reagan who urged Marcos Sr. to leave the country that was “on the brink of bloodshed” and amid the rioting of the latter’s former supporters.
Reagan guaranteed Marcos Sr. asylum if he came to the stateside.
Marcos Sr. governed the country for 21 years, nine of which were under martial rule.
The period was marked by the curtailment of civil liberties, extrajudicial killings and unsolved disappearances, media suppression, and economic recession, among others.
London-based human rights organization Amnesty International said that “some 70,000 people were imprisoned and 34,000 were tortured; over 3,200 people were killed” during Martial Law.
Meanwhile, the People Power Revolution was a culmination of a series of public protests that happened for four days, which was a manifestation of Filipinos’ sentiments against totalitarian rule, according to the Official Gazette.
