Let’s talk about it!

What do you remember when we talk about Imelda Marcos?

Your opinion may be as good as mine. Yes, I remember three things: first, she was a former first lady, the longest first lady to ever reign in our country; second, the word “imeldific” was coined after her, which urbandictionary.com defines as “ostentatious extravagance”; and third, she had a whopping collection of shoes.

Let’s talk about the third. I know it may be irrelevant to the present world situation; however, it’s always a good thing to talk about something. This way, we keep our senses healthy; we maintain sanity, so to speak. It works best when we learn lessons from topics we talk about, and share these lessons learned in ways that benefit others, too.

It’s not about the former first lady though, but the shoes.

According to Rappler.com, 253 pairs of Imelda’s shoe collection are displayed at the Marikina Shoe Museum, along with those of celebrities, personalities, and former presidents.

An entire floor of the museum was dedicated to Imelda’s footwear with utter volume of brands like Chanel, Dior, and Gucci as well as local brands manufactured in Marikina like Marlet Shoes, Lady Rustan’s, and Maro by Mario Katigbak.

It’s a good thing to discover that Imelda did own quite a lot of shoes from the Philippines, too and quite worthwhile to learn, I would say that she had helped promote the local shoe industry across the globe during her time.

She was the “Shoe Ambassadress”, Marikina Shoe Industry Development Office OIC Noel Box said, according to Rappler during an interview they made with Box.

Box said that shoe brands from Marikina would give her a pair of shoes as a gift, and she’d order more of the same in different colors along with a matching bag sometimes if she liked them, and promote them on her travels every time she would go abroad.

Now the challenge: Would someone have the audacity to do something like that today?

Here’s a fact. A local broadcast journalist, columnist, radio presenter, and TV personality just a few hours back made a huge revelation. He had an overwhelming collection of sheer branded shoes and apparels, the likes of Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and Balenciaga, to name a few. What’s the catch? He is going to sell some of these for charity.

Rafael “Raffy” Teshiba Tulfo, the man behind the popular TV program Raffy Tulfo in Action and more popularly known as “Idol Raffy” made the surprise announcement on his program and gave the viewers a virtual tour of the place where a vast collection of shoes and apparels from ties to suits were displayed.

Tulfo and his family recently established an e-commerce website – “Idol Shopping Network” where he plans to showcase his collection and do online selling.

He said that 100% of the total amount he generates from the sale of his collection will be donated to charity. He will also create a calamity fund and make it a source for the relief goods he shares, a regular thing he does on his program that he said would also be for future projects he intends to do.

He wants to share the fruits of his labor to the less fortunate, and said he would be selling these items at prices people can afford. He said he wanted his fans to feel happy wearing what a lucky man like him used to wear. He believes that if someone wears what a lucky man used to wear, that man would become lucky, too.

Idol Raffy’s YouTube channel “Raffy Tulfo in Action” has reached 19 million subscribers to date and acknowledged that he owes the achievement from fans as well as all those who had reached out to his program for help.