First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos seems unfazed by the fresh allegations against her, this time linking her to the rice-and-onion cartel.
Rather than dwelling on what she called political drama, she instead paid attention to her work as the spouse of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and a law professor. ‘While some may choose theatrics, I’d rather focus on teaching future lawyers how the law truly works-where truth is the standard and proof is the language we live by,’ she said in a post on her official Instagram account on Thursday, showing photos of her students at West Visayas State University (WVSU) in Iloilo City.
The First Lady has been a law professor for 30 years at different universities. She has been teaching civil law at WVSU since 2022.
‘I’m incredibly proud of my students. Despite the storms, earthquakes, and bogus bomb threats that plagued Iloilo City this semester, when they showed up for class, they were prepared, curious, and ready to dissect the latest jurisprudence,’ she said of her students.
She bid them good luck on their final exams and hoped to see them in the next semester.
In a recorded video he released on Wednesday, resigned Ako Bikol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co accused the wife of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of attempting to stop the congressional inquiries into soaring food prices on behalf of her brother, Martin Araneta, who was then implicated in the 2022 onion price crisis as well as a 2024 inquiry into soaring rice prices.
The 2022 inquiry pointed to an ‘onion cartel’ as the driving force behind the artificial price spike, prompting the Department of Agriculture (DA) to blacklist three importers allegedly linked to price manipulation.
In his video, Co alleged that Araneta-Marcos called then-Speaker Martin Romualdez, her cousin-in-law, to ask that the inquiry be halted shortly after her brother’s name surfaced as a key player in the crisis.
Specifically, Martin Araneta was accused of colluding with Michael Ma, president of China-Philippine United Enterprises, to smuggle onions and manipulate prices.
The same thing happened in 2024, when the House staged an inquiry into why rice prices suddenly surged to P60 per kilo just months before the 2025 midterm elections.
According to Co, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu-Laurel asked the lower chamber to halt the inquiry after the first lady’s name appeared in a confidential report implicating her as behind the cartel of rice importers manipulating the price of rice.
Tiu-Laurel denied Co’s accusation, calling it a ‘total baloney. [and out] of a script from a Netflix series.’ The First Lady was also tagged in the flood control scandal due to her connection with tech billionaire Maynard Ngu.
Former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo accused Ngu of receiving P160 million in kickbacks on behalf of Senator Francis Escudero during the Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on flood control projects in September.
In turn, a private individual asked the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to investigate Araneta-Marcos’ role. The Palace, however, denied her connection to the corruption saga, claiming it was a ‘fishing expedition’ to tarnish her name. ###First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos poses with her law students from the West Visayas State University (WVSU) in Iloilo City. PHOTO FROM INSTGRAM OF LIZA MARCOS