“This is one of our major injustices,’’ she said, adding her victory would bring closer her dream of burying her husband in a heroes’ cemetery in Manila. Such a move has been denied by successive governments since Marcos’s death in US exile in 1989, three years after his ouster in a “people power’’ revolt.
The Marcoses were accused of corruption, political repression, and widespread human rights abuses during Ferdinand Marcos’s 20-year iron-fisted rule. After fleeing the presidential palace aboard US choppers — and leaving behind stunning jewels and 1,220 pairs of shoes — Imelda Marcos and their three children were allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991.
Despite her reputation for extravagance, including shopping trips to the world’s poshest boutiques and lavish beautification projects in a nation wracked by poverty, Imelda Marcos retained supporters and even won a congressional seat in 1995. She ran unsuccessfully for president in 1992 and again in 1998.
“My ambition is to serve without end and to love without end,’’ Marcos said at a news conference in a hotel discotheque before her long convoy hit the road.
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