An ABC star has revealed that members of the Philippine president’s staff tried to cancel her interview after she asked a series of difficult questions.
Sarah Ferguson, who hosts 7.30, has lifted the lid on her “extremely tense” interview with Ferdinand Marcos Jr., which aired in early March.
Ferguson recently opened up about what happened behind the scenes after she asked Marcos Jr. about his family’s alleged corruption.
His father, dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., looted billions from the country while eliminating basic civil rights and “disappearing” his political rivals.
The family’s extravagant wealth was notorious.
After being overthrown in 1986, protesters stormed Malacanang Palace and discovered that First Lady Imelda Marcos had left nearly 3,000 pairs of shoes in her wardrobe.
Ferguson revealed that he first asked Marcos Jr. about the Philippines’ relationship with China and the rising tensions in the South China Sea.
But she always planned to put him on the spot about his family’s corruption.
Marcos Jr., clearly taken aback, began to laugh nervously and began to respond before Ferguson interrupted him.
“Can I ask you why it’s funny?” he asked during the interview.
The 7.30 presenter revealed that her line of questioning sparked an immediate off-screen response from the president’s press team, saying it made their “heart beat a little faster”.
“From the moment I mentioned his father, the caregivers, first of all, start moving,” Ferguson said.
‘They start talking to each other. Then they start talking to the producer, trying to get her to close the interview.
And then, as the questions progress, they begin to approach Marcos and me.
In a TikTok video titled ‘what happens when you ask a president about corruption?’ 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson opened up about what happened behind the scenes after she asked Marcos Jr. about his family’s alleged corruption.
Marcos Jr., clearly taken aback, began to laugh nervously and began to respond before Ferguson interrupted him (pictured).
“They’re standing right behind his chair and I want to continue to ask him what his responsibility is, what his relationship is to what his father did and his acceptance of that and what it means to him as president.”
“But I’m doing it in this extraordinary space where the temperature in the room, depending on how you look at it, has gone up or down a lot.”
The president stated that “they took everything from us” and called accusations that they were responsible for large-scale corruption “propaganda.”
But the family’s fraud is well documented: some estimate they looted up to $10 billion while millions of Filipinos lived in extreme poverty.
“It’s extremely tense and I’m just trying to get to the end so I can get a ‘Thank you for talking until 7:30,’ when at that point I know he wishes he hadn’t,” Ferguson adds.
Read the full transcript of Ferguson’s questions that took Ferdinand Marcos Jr. by surprise.
SARAH FERGUSON: There are a number of questions that arise in relation to your father’s time and that is, of course, the question of corruption that became totally associated with the Philippines for a long period of time. I believe that contemporary judicial rulings recognize the atrocities that were committed but also the looting of the country’s resources.
Why wouldn’t you want all that money back in the hands of the Filipino people?
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: Well, with the narrative…
SARAH FERGUSON: Can I ask you why it’s funny?
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: Why that?
SARAH FERGUSON: Why is that funny. I ask you a question about the looting of large sums of money from the Filipino people…
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: No. I’m thinking that that holds, that idea holds because I object to a lot of the claims that have been made.
And I think we have been, we have since the cases were presented, the government fell. Cases were filed against me, my family, the estate, etc. and so far the claims that were made have been proven to be false.
SARAH FERGUSON: A lot of money has been recovered, I think $5 billion. I guess the question is…
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: Again, again, again…
SARAH FERGUSON: Don’t you want all the money you took to be returned to the people?
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: Again, we have signed, this family has signed a waiver, we have signed many waiver demands. Any money you find is yours and finished and it was all taken from us.
We went and they took us to Hawaii. All. They took everything from us with nothing, we have nothing left.
SARAH FERGUSON: It is not the opinion of the presidential commission.
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: Am I’m sorry?
SARAH FERGUSON: It is not the opinion of the presidential commission. This is my last question on this topic.
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: What presidential commission?
SARAH FERGUSON: In Philippines? His opinion is that there is a large amount of money outstanding.
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: I think having seen the facts, as they have slowly been revealed, more real investigation, not propaganda, but real real investigation, the court cases and the investigations done by all kinds of NGOs, different agencies, that has changed and people can see that it was propaganda.
SARAH FERGUSON: I guess the question is that other countries in the region, including Australia, want to know that the Philippines and you in particular, like Marcos, have come to terms with your family history.
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: There was a time when the topic was Marcos. That is no longer the case and that is why I think the best proof of this is my election.
SARAH FERGUSON: President Marcos, thank you very much for speaking until 7:30.
FERDINAND MARCOS JR: Thank you.