Vera Files columnist Antonio Montalvan II wrote on April 13, 2025 that Senator Imee Marcos admitted in a U.S. court that activist Archimedes “Archie” Trajano was tortured and killed.
Mr. Montalvan recounted that Imee’s bodyguards abducted Archimedes on August 31, 1977. This was after Archie questioned the eldest daughter of dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. during a public forum about why she was leading the Kabataang Barangay.
Two days later, on September 2, 1977, Archimedes’ mother, Mrs. Agapita Francisco Trajano found the activist’s lifeless body in a morgue—battered and clearly tortured. Mrs. Trajano testified, “He was covered in a white sheet, lying on a table. And when I opened the sheet… I saw him black and blue… I could not talk… nothing… but I think my heart hardened. I said, ‘My God, why him?’”
Nine years after the incident, Mrs. Trajano filed a case for false imprisonment, kidnapping, wrongful death, and deprivation of rights against Imee in a federal court in Hawaii.
Because Imee failed to appear in court, a default judgment was issued in favor of Mrs. Trajano. The court ordered Imee to pay $4.16 million in damages and attorney’s fees.
Mr. Montalvan wrote, “Imeee appealed the verdict in the US Court of Appeals 9th Circuit. She contended that yes, Archie Trajano was tortured by her bodyguards. Yes, she (Imee) knew about the torture.”
Mr. Montalvan also said at one hearing, Imee uttered to the court, “Yes, Archimedes Trajano was tortured and killed but it’s none of your business.”
Mr. Montalvan said that the appeals court upheld the lower court’s ruling, affirming its jurisdiction over the case and holding Imee liable for Archie’s death.
When the case was transferred to the Regional Trial Court of Pasig (as Imee was reported as an owner of a property in this city), the former presidential daughter snubbed the hearings. The Pasig RTC then declared Imee in default.
Imee appealed to the Court of Appeals, which eventually upheld that the property was owned by Imee’s partner Tommy Manotoc.
This case was elevated all the way to the Philippine Supreme Court. In the end, the Supreme Court reversed the RTC Pasig and Court of Appeals’ decisions on a technicality that Mrs. Trajano took no effort in locating Imee.
Mr. Montalvan noted the value of all this information as Imee, now a Senator, is campaigning for re-election and is conducting an inquiry on the International Criminal Court’s arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Mr. Montalvan said, “Imee Marcos, who had admitted to the torture and killing of Archimedes Trajano, was acquitted on a technicality, but not on her culpability for murder….
“Today, as she makes noise in the Senate to be noticed — to gain points from Duterte’s Diehard Supporters and their votes to prop up her abysmally kulelat standing in the polls, she is doing a senate hearing in aid of election. She continues to be a liar.”
Mr. Montalvan made his message about Imee loud and clear: “Let’s make it our business to hold her accountable. For one, let’s not put her back in the Senate.”
