Imelda Marcos launches campaign to re-enter Philippine politics

IMELDA Marcos, 80, the former first lady forever associated with her huge shoe collection, yesterday put on a bright orange tunic and hit the campaign trail in an attempt to re-enter Philippine Congress.

Marcos, her hair coifed back and elegant leather sandals on her feet, led journalists at daybreak to the mausoleum of Ferdinand Marcos in his northern Philippine stronghold.

"This is one of our major injustices," she said, adding that victory would bring closer her dream of burying her husband in a heroes' cemetery in Manila.

"Such a move has been denied by successive governments since Ferdinand Marcos's death in United States exile in 1989, three years after his ousting in a "people power" revolt.

The Marcoses were accused of corruption, political repression and widespread human rights abuses during Ferdinand Marcos's 20-year iron-fisted rule.