Imelda Marcos claims poverty

Imelda Marcos claims poverty

MANILA (AFP): The Philippine congress will investigate Imelda Marcos' claim to be the poorest member of parliament after doubts over her stated finances, legislators said yesterday.

House of Representatives ethics committee members said it was the widow of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos herself who requested the investigation.

In a congressional list of legislators who had filed their assets and liabilities, Marcos emerged as the poorest member with assets worth 70.46 million pesos (US$2.7 million) and liabilities totaling 100 million pesos ($3.8 million), leaving her in the red for 29.54 million pesos.

Marcos said most of her assets have been sequestered by the government since her husband was toppled in a popular uprising in 1986. Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

Imelda Marcos was convicted to up to 24 years in jail for corruption in 1993 but remains free on appeal. She was elected to Congress in 1995. She and her children face several tax evasion and graft charges in various courts here.