Manila: Flamboyant former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is in “stable condition” and set to be discharged soon after being hospitalised for severe fatigue, an aide said on Monday.
The 84-year-old, who gained worldwide fame for her massive shoe collection, was taken to hospital on Sunday after feeling ill following a long road trip from her northern home town.
“There is nothing to worry about. She is in stable condition and was just asked by doctors to rest,” Marcos’s chief of staff, Filadelfo Diaz said.
Marcos, now a congresswoman representing northern Luzon, was hospitalised due to spiked blood sugar, not due to stroke, a hospital source said.
Marcos, 84, was confined at St. Luke’s Medical Centre in Metro Manila’s southern suburban Taguig on Saturday night after her blood sugar was elevated following a 15-hour trip from Ilocos Norte. Stroke was ruled out, Marilen Lagniton, the hospital’s marketing head and Vice-President for patient experience, said on TV.
The data came from Dr. Joven Cuanang, Marcos’ doctor and also head of St. Luke’s neurology department, said Lagniton.
At the House of Representatives, Marcos represents Ilocos Norte, the base of her late husband, former President Ferdinand Marcos.
He was elected in 1965, declared a Martial Law rule in 1972, and stayed in power until his ouster by a people-backed military mutiny in 1986.
When her husband was in power, she was ambassador at large and headed government agencies.
He was accused of amassing alleged ill-gotten wealth, estimated at $35 billion (Dh128.5 billion), while in power. His business associates allegedly fronted several business interests for him. She was also accused of overspending on paintings, and was found to have two thousand pairs of shoes after the former first family hastily left the presidential palace in 1986.
Her husband died while living in exile in the US in 1989. She and other surviving family members were allowed to return to the Philippines in 1990. His body was brought from the US to his hometown in the north in 1992.
Since then, Marcos and her two other children Imee and Ferdinand Jr., sought elected government posts.
