TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/111891/1118001.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 4KB | 81 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 29

THE PHILIPPINES

The War of the Widows


Cory Aquino lets Imelda Marcos come home to stand trial, but she
is looking for political -- not judicial -- vindication


    Never mind that she departed in ignominy aboard a U.S. Air
Force jet. Forget that she is under indictment for looting her
country. Imelda Marcos was determined to go home like a hero.
And what Imelda wants, Imelda usually gets.

    When she finally landed in Manila, however, few could
forget the eerily similar event that triggered Ferdinand and
Imelda Marcos' fall. Commando teams fanned out around her
aircraft as it taxied to the gate, just as they had when
opposition leader Benigno Aquino returned from exile eight years
earlier. But instead of the fatal gunshots that greeted him,
well-wishers surged onto the plane to welcome the former First
Lady. Under a plan worked out by the Philippine national police
and a coterie of retired Marcos loyalists, Imelda was escorted
to a holding room for immigration and customs checks -- then a
quick getaway.

    But Imelda, being Imelda, refused to abide by the plan to
join her motorcade in a safely cleared area behind the
terminal. Instead, she insisted on leaving through the arrival
lobby in full view of the press and supporters. After two hours
of frantic calls to the Malacanang Palace, President Corazon
Aquino's executive secretary instructed police to let Imelda
have her way.

    A trivial victory, but Imelda watchers were already
keeping score in what Manila's press has dubbed the "war of the
widows." Aquino had conceded the first point by reversing her
ban on Marcos' return after a Swiss judge ruled that the former
First Lady must be found guilty in a Philippine court before the
government could hope to recoup an estimated $350 million in
"ill-gotten wealth" from frozen Marcos accounts in Swiss banks.
Aquino also agreed to allow interment of the still unburied body
of the late President Marcos in his home province. But Imelda
insists on a hero's burial in Manila's national cemetery. She
returned without the corpse -- but in time to fulfill a
six-month residency requirement for prospective presidential
candidates.

    Whether she chooses to run or not, her return signaled the
unofficial start of the 1992 presidential campaign. "My role as
First Lady was to bring out what was good and beautiful in the
Filipino people," she said, "but I was perceived as Marie
Antoinette." Aquino, claimed Imelda, "employs 16 world-known
public relations firms to package her." Most analysts do not
underestimate Imelda's influence on a citizenry that is
disillusioned with the democratic government that displaced the
dictatorship.

    Still, her status and the electoral environment have
changed during the past six years. Unfettered critical media
have replaced the "crony press." She is no longer the wife of
an all-powerful President, and is possibly a criminal to boot
-- as she was reminded last week when she appeared in the Quezon
City courthouse to post bail and undergo fingerprinting on tax
fraud charges. Some unexpected events could also hurt an Imelda
candidacy. The devastating typhoon that struck her native
province of Leyte last week has triggered widespread anxiety
about the country's dynastic political system among the
superstitious masses. People say that the two widows are
responsible for all the natural disasters -- and that only when
they reconcile will the devastation end.


By Sandra Burton. With reporting by Nelly Sindayen/Manila.