Philippine elections : Imelda Marcos, flush with diamonds, seeks a comeback

It is never too late to try one’s luck in politics. Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, now 80, and as usual bedecked in jade and diamonds, proves the adage as she campaigns and hopes for a comeback in Philippine elections.

Imelda began a grueling campaign on Friday for a congressional seat that she hopes will allow her to bury her ousted strongman husband in a heroes' cemetery and clear his sullied name.

Marcos and nearly 18,000 other politicians barnstormed the impoverished Southeast Asian nation on the first official day of campaigning for May 10 local elections, media reports from Manila said.

Presidential and senatorial candidates have been campaigning for more than a month. Police say political violence, which often goes hand-in-hand with festive campaigning, has already claimed close to 80 lives, including 57 people massacred in an election caravan in the southern Philippines.

Also among the celebrity candidates is boxing star Manny Pacquiao, who is seeking a congressional seat in his southern province. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has been threatened with criminal charges by critics when her turbulent term ends in June, is another candidate for the 287-seat lower chamber.

Emerging from more than a decade of political obscurity, Marcos strode back into the scene with a vengeance. Her hair coifed back and wearing a bright orange tunic with jade and diamond jewelry, she led journalists at daybreak to the mausoleum of her husband, Ferdinand Marcos, in Ilocos Norte province, his northern stronghold. She mournfully kissed his glass coffin as cameras snapped. "This is one of our major injustices," she said.

She was flanked by her daughter Imee, who is running for governor in Ilocos Norte, a tobacco-growing region about 400 kilometers, north of Manila. Her son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is seeking a Senate seat. Imelda is forever remembered for the stunning jewels and 1,220 pairs of shoes she left behind in the presidential palace.

Despite some 900 civil and criminal cases she has faced in Philippine courts since 1991 _ cases ranging from embezzlement and corruption to tax evasion _ she has emerged relatively unscathed and never served prison time.

- Asian Tribune -