10 November 2018
A court in the Philippines found Imelda Marcos (pictured), 89, former first lady, guilty of seven counts of corruption during the two-decade rule of her husband and former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos and ordered her arrest on Friday. The special anti-corruption Sandiganbayan court sentenced her to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for funnelling about $200 million to Swiss foundations in the 1970s while she was governor of Metropolitan Manila. The court allowed her, during her appeal period, to continue as a member of the powerful House of Representatives while disqualifying her from holding any public office. But a series of likely appeals could keep her out of jail until her death. The ruling comes nearly 30 years after the case was first filed. Many activists have been campaigning for her incarceration. She was known for amassing an extravagant collection of shoes, jewellery and artwork.
Marcos is said to have amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion while he was in power. A Hawaii court found Marcos liable for human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances. Her husband died in self-exile in Hawaii in 1989 but Imelda and her children returned to the Philippines.
President Rodrigo Duterte, an ally of the Marcoses. Duterte has acknowledged that Imee Marcos, Imelda’s daughter and a provincial governor, backed his presidential candidacy. Mr Duterte allowed Mr Marcos’s embalmed body to be buried at a special heroes’ cemetery in 2016,
Ms Marcos who served three-terms congresswoman, is planning to contest the next May election as governor of Ilocos Norte, the stronghold of their still-powerful family. Her daughter, Imee Marcos, 62, is now holding this post. Imee Marcos will be running for the Philippine Senate in 2019.
