Imelda backs down on showing of ‘documentary’

Former First Lady Imelda Marcos offered yesterday to stop seeking to ban a film she said made of joke of her life, but only if the distributors drop the word "documentary" from the title.

The charismatic widow of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos said she would give up the case in recognition of the Filipino people’s right of freedom.

"Having been in the public eye for years, in the spirit of freedom and everyone’s right to their respective perception, I will drop my case provided the word ‘documentary’ will be removed from the title of the film," she said in a statement.

"This has been personally conveyed to the producer of the film Ramona Diaz, who in turn will inform Unitel Inc., the distributor of the film."

Marcos, who said she granted the film-makers access only after being told they were working on a study project, won a court order last month temporarily stopping the screening of the award-winning documentary.

A Makati court found reasonable grounds in Marcos’ contention that the film was unfair to her and she had been deceived, but many expected the Supreme Court to reverse that ruling this month.

The 100-minute film, "Imelda," looks at the colourful life of the former beauty queen and the two decades at her husband’s side until he was toppled by huge protests in 1986.

Imelda’s extravagant lifestyle and an enormous shoe collection amassed during her husband’s iron-fisted rule helped to make her probably the world’s most famous Filipina.

"We have to stick to the truth because truth is God," Marcos said during a book launch last week. "This is the problem today, just because you are a public figure, they have the freedom to make a story."

Diaz, a niece of a former official in the Presidential Commission on Good Government recovering the Marcos wealth, had expressed hope that young Filipinos would be able to watch the documentary and make up their own minds. – Marvin Sy, Evelyn Macairan