Museum acquires Imelda Marcos' shoes

Museum acquires Imelda Marcos' shoes

MANILA (AP): The Philippines' shoemaking capital has acquired
200 pairs of shoes from the famed collection of former first lady
Imelda Marcos for a new city shoe museum and hopes to add
footwear from many presidents, an official said Monday.

Marikina, a shoe and leather goods center east of Manila, had
hoped to obtain all 1,220 pairs of shoes abandoned at the palace
after she and her strongman husband, Ferdinand, were ousted in a
1986 "people power" revolt.

But officials at Malacanang palace, where the shoes have been
stored, were only willing to lend 200 pairs, said Pearly Jane
Sison, a Marikina tourism official who oversees the city's new
Footwear Museum.

The museum has also received shoes from two past presidents,
Diosdado Macapagal and Carlos Garcia, and is trying to obtain a
pair from current President Joseph Estrada, a former movie star,
she said, "We want to show not only to the Philippines but also
to the world our shoemaking industry."

The transfer of Mrs. Marcos' shoes to the Marikina museum was
approved by Estrada on condition they could be taken back if the
government needs them as evidence in pending graft cases against
the Marcoses, Sison said.

Marcos' successor, Corazon Aquino, accused him of stealing
billions of dollars during his 20-year rule and ordered many of
his assets seized. She also had Mrs. Marcos' shoes displayed in
the palace as a symbol of the former first lady's extravagance.

After the display, they were placed in a basement storeroom
when Estrada's predecessor, Fidel Ramos, took power in 1992.

Sison said it was unfortunate that most of Mrs. Marcos' shoes
were expensive foreign-made brands and less than 10 pairs were
actually made in Marikina.

The pairs of Mrs. Marcos' size 8 1/2 shoes obtained by the
museum include one with gold trim and another studded with
rhinestones. There are two pairs of knee-high boots, but the
museum could not obtain a battery-operated pair that blinked when
Mrs. Marcos danced, Sison said.