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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-9/marcos-duke-sm.webp" alt="Imelda Marcos and Doris Duke in 1991" />
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(Imelda Marcos and Doris Duke at a Hawaiian dance festival in 1989)
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Thousands of loyalists and curious onlookers lined the road for more than five miles from the airport, honking horns, blowing sirens, tossing confetti, waving flags and shouting pro-Marcos slogans. Workmen clanged pipes and cheered from construction sites along the road.
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<p>
It was an impressive show of support for the homecoming of the 62-year-old widow of former President <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/595/today-in-philippine-history-september-11-1917-ferdinand-e-marcos-was-born-in-sarrat-ilocos-norte" class="news_link">Ferdinand E. Marcos</a>. The Marcoses fled the country after the <a href="https://kahimyang.com/articles/2981/the-people-power-revolution-a-turning-point-in-philippine-history" class="news_link">People Power</a> revolt of 1986.
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<p>
Philippine government officials said Imelda Marcos will be arrested and released on bail Wednesday, November 6. She faces at least 70 criminal and civil charges for the alleged systematic looting of the impoverished country's treasury during the Marcoses' 21-year rule.
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<p>
Mrs. Marcos was quoted by Reuters on November 1 from an interview printed in Manila newspapers, responding to charges that the
Marcoses stole money during their rule:
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"You could see where all the money went. We built bridges, roads, infrastructure. We spent a lot for education and agriculture.
Now, in less than five years, the budget was 300 billion pesos [$11.1 billion, compared to $18.5 billion during the 20 years under Marcos for 20 years] Tell me where all the money goes? Now who's the thief? And these feudal lords could tell us so? Mrs. Aquino is a feudal lord." 
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<p>
The government has accused the couple of stealing $5 billion to $10 billion. She was acquitted of federal criminal racketeering charges in a New York trial in 1990.
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<p>
Soldiers armed with automatic weapons surrounded her as the motorcade drove slowly through Manila's jampacked streets.
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<p>
<i>"It's wonderful to be home,"</i> she said as she disembarked from her chartered Boeing 747 and, amid tight security and a crush of reporters, was taken into an airport holding room where her one-way entry documents were stamped. 
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She said earlier in a news conference aboard the plane:
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"I'm overwhelmed.  This is for me the start of a healing process, a mission of reconciliation, healing and peace." 
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<p>
Marcos was met by her son Bongbong, who also returned from exile in October. At his side was Vice President <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/1992/today-in-philippine-history-november-18-1928-salvador-laurel-was-born-in-paco-manila" class="news_link">Salvador Laurel</a>, a former Marcos opponent who is now an opposition leader.
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<p>
Hundreds of photographers and camera crews pushed and shoved at the airport, and Imelda Marcos appeared frightened and bewildered in the crush. She wore a simple white dress, with gold jewelry and white high heels.
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In what many see as a personal vendetta, President <a href="https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/897/today-in-philippine-history-january-25-1933-cory-aquino-was-born-in-manila" class="news_link">Corazon Aquino</a> has refused to let Imelda Marcos bring her husband's body back to Manila for burial. The government relaxed its five-year ban on her return in August.
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<p>
Marcos, characteristically, made a spectacle of her homecoming. Her chartered jet held 235 journalists, aides, hangers-on, politicians, doctors, solar-power experts and, according to one aide, <i>"people who know how to harness the energy in sea waves."</i>
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<p>
There was also a 3-foot, white statue of the Virgin Mary, which rode in the cabin with Imelda Marcos during the nearly 10-hour flight from Honolulu.
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November 4, 1991: Imelda Marcos return home after nearly 6 years of exile in Hawaii