Ex-Philippines dictator's wife released after posting bail

The widow of former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos was released on bail on Friday after paying a 150,000 pesos ($2,850) fine imposed by the country's anti-corruption court Sandiganbayan.

Imelda Marcos, 89, arrived at the Fifth Division of Sandiganbayan in Quezon City accompanied by her son Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, daughter Imee Marcos and several grandchildren, Efe news reported.

Nicknamed the "Iron Butterfly" during the rule of her late husband, Marcos was released from custody after being held since her sentencing on November 9, according to the court order issued by Judge Rafael R. Lagos.

Marcos, a member of congress for Ilocos Norte, was found guilty last week on seven counts of corruption. She was sentenced to between six and 11 years in prison for each offence.

The trial focused on $200 million that was siphoned from the public treasury to private accounts in Switzerland while she was Governor of Manila from 1975 to 1986.

The Sandiganbayan's ruling can be appealed in the Supreme Court, allowing Marcos to retain her parliamentary seat and continue her campaign for Ilocos Norte governor in the May 2019 elections, a seat currently occupied by her daughter Imee.

Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 and imposed martial law between 1972 and 1981.

A peaceful popular revolt overthrew the Marcos dictatorship. The strongman and his wife then went into exile on February 26, 1986.

The former dictator died in the US state of Hawaii in 1989 and his family returned to the Philippines a few years later, where hundreds of lawsuits awaited them, although none has yet been prosecuted.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government, created to recover money stolen by the Marcos family, estimated that the family illicitly accumulated between $5,000 billion and $10 billion during their reign.

--IANS

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