Imelda Marcos wins court fight, completes political comeback
Imelda Marcos wins court fight, completes political comeback
MANILA (Reuter): Imelda Marcos completed her amazing political
comeback yesterday when the Philippines Supreme Court rejected a
protest against her victory in May national elections, paving the
way for her to take her seat in Congress.
The former first lady who fled the country in disgrace in 1986
with her late husband Ferdinand Marcos, cleared a major obstacle
to her return to power when the court threw out the protest by
defeated incumbent congressman Cirilo Montejo.
The court, voting 9-6, rejected Montejo's protest "with
finality for lack of merit", according to a court resolution
released to reporters.
"Thank God, the Supreme Court of the Philippines respected and
upheld the overwhelming mandate of the people," Marcos said in a
statement after the court ruling was announced.
Marcos, sentenced to 18 years in jail in 1993 for corruption,
ran for a congressional seat in her home province of Leyte in the
May elections and defeated Montejo by more than 70,000 votes.
The watchdog Commission on Elections stopped her taking the
seat, saying she failed to meet residency requirements, but the
court nullified the ruling last month and upheld her victory.
Montejo appealed for a reconsideration of the court's
decision, which the tribunal rejected on Wednesday.
Imelda Marcos, 66, is out on bail while appealing against a
conviction for corruption.
Wednesday's ruling was the latest twist in the bizarre saga of
a former Manila beauty queen once adored by millions of Filipinos
and then reviled, accused of helping her husband plunder the
economy during their 20 years in power.
A 1986 popular revolt ousted Marcos from power and forced the
family to flee into exile in Hawaii, where the former president
died in 1989.
Imelda Marcos returned to the Philippines in 1991 and ran
unsuccessfully for president the following year, finishing fifth
in a seven-way race won by now incumbent Fidel Ramos.
Yesterday's ruling would have no effect on her prison
conviction, court sources said.
If the Supreme Court eventually reaffirms that conviction, she
will be automatically ousted from the 201-member House of
Representatives and will have to serve her sentence, the sources
said.
Besides the 1993 conviction, Marcos still faces more than 100
other criminal and civil suits on charges ranging from tax
evasion to illegal money transfers and corruption.
Montejo, who belongs to Ramos' ruling coalition, can still
appeal to the House election tribunal, which also has
jurisdiction over poll protests.
But cases before the tribunal usually take years to resolve.
In several past cases, its decision came after the term of the
contested post had lapsed.
The Supreme Court decision was the second major legal victory
for a woman known around the world for her extravagance, her
lavish shopping sprees and the more than 3,000 pairs of designer
shoes she left behind at the presidential palace when she and her
husband fell from power.
In July 1991, while still living as an exile in the United
States, a New York jury acquitted her of racketeering charges
arising from her alleged looting of $200 million from the
Philippine treasury to buy Manhattan real estate, jewels and art
works.
"My life is that of a fairy tale, like 'Cinderella' and 'Alice
in Wonderland' all combined," she once said. "The realities of
the life of Marcos and Imelda are stranger than fiction."