Appendix 5.4: The President’s Physique

Abstract

“Malakas and Maganda” was not only restricted to portraits commissioned by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, or to sycophantic verses in works such as Ferdinand Marcos: An Epic (1974) by Guillermo C. de Vega and Imelda Marcos: A Tonal Epic (1975) by Alejandrino G. Hufana. In an otherwise straightforward document on the Philippine National Railways’s accomplishments, one can find this captioned portrait of Philippine National Railways executives giddily looking at Ferdinand Marcos’s shirtless physique