Yolanda destroys Imelda’s ancestral house in Leyte

The ancestral house of former first lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos was not spared from the strength of super typhoon Yolanda—its walls and fences were torn off by Yolanda's monster winds, a report on "24 Oras" said.

In fact, the only reminder that this house in Tolosa, Leyte was once the Romualdez home is a picture of Imelda's uncle, former House Speaker and Leyte representative Daniel Romualdez, that was spared from the floods.

But the 17-room estate, which was acquired by the Marcoses in a high court ruling after the government tried to sequester it for ill-gotten wealth, has been reduced to rubble.

Even the family's private cemetery was choked with fallen branches, the report showed.

Imelda's rest house not far from the mansion was also destroyed, with the second floor torn off and the pool filled with sea water, the report said.

Imelda met future husband Ferdinand Marcos when she accompanied her uncle, House Speaker Romualdez, to Congress in the 1950s, according to Albert Celoza's book "Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: The Political Economy of Authoritarianism."

Super typhoon Yolanda, perhaps the strongest storm to make landfall in recorded history, sent a deadly storm surge through central Philippines on November 8.

Close to 4,000 people have been confirmed dead, with damage to property worth up to P11.737 billion as of Tuesday morning, based on the latest National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) report. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab/BM, GMA News