In typhoon-hit Tablocan, tide turns on favourite daughter Imelda Marcos
Former first lady's family dominates the area around Tacloban, and some are blaming the clan for a belated local relief effort
Look around the once-gracious city by a horseshoe-shaped bay and it is still possible to imagine it before the mass deaths and devastation of last Friday's typhoon, when it was a jewel of the Pacific thanks in good part to a local who became a global celebrity: Imelda Marcos, the flamboyant former first lady of the Philippines.
Spaced along the main coastal road of Tacloban are St Nino's Shrine, an elegant mansion that once held Marcos' infamous shoe collection; a stately white community hall fit for a much larger city; and the pink St Nino's Church. All were built or restored at lavish expense when Ferdinand Marcos ruled the country from 1966 to 1986.
Our view of the Marcos family has fallen … they are not taking care of us
Imelda Marcos' family, the Romualdez clan, has dominated local politics for generations. She held a congressional seat for the province in the 1990s, one of her nephews is the mayor of Tacloban and another is a congressman in the region.
So as Tacloban residents fume over the widespread initial failure of relief efforts to provide food, water, medical treatment or even security, some of the blame is falling on a family that many here have long revered.
The debate over who is responsible was in full swing on Thursday at a bus shelter outside St Nino's Shrine, which lost the collection of shoes that symbolised Marcos' opulent lifestyle to a museum in Manila, but still displays her collection of ancient vases.
As a tropical downpour began to turn roads clogged with debris into ankle-deep lakes, local resident Perlin Bechachino explained why she still held Marcos, 84, and the Romualdez family in high esteem. (Marcos' maiden name was Romualdez.)
Bechachino cited the family's many donations to St Nino's Church, where she attends services every Sunday. She praised the local government for warning people five days in advance that a typhoon was coming, prompting her to head with her family to an official evacuation centre that did not fill with water - unlike others where people drowned when the sea entered.