Many have come to know Louise Araneta-Marcos as the wife of President Ferdinand Marcos.

She is also mother to three sons: Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro”, Joseph Simon and William Vincent “Vinny”. Many of her supporters see her as a supportive wife to the President whom she first met in New York in 1987 and then later married in Italy 6 years later.

Still, outside her marriage, the First Lady has established herself as a lawyer and a law professor.

Born into a family that was already politically connected, it is no surprise that Araneta-Marcos pursued law. Having spent eight years under the tutelage of a Jesuit education, she has taken on an even more significant “man for others” role in the public sphere. She continues to champion the beliefs she has carried her whole life.

Her heart lies in the preservation of Filipino culture. She has thrown her support behind the full-scale cultural mapping of Ilocos Norte, the establishment of Museo Ilocos Norte, and the upgrading of the province’s popular inabel handwoven fabric. As First Lady, her priorities this year are on education, the rehabilitation of the Pasig River alongside the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and pushing for adopting the Universal Health Care law in partnership with the Department of Health (DOH).