Marcos family settles electric bills

The family of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos has paid P0.5 million ($9,433) towards unsettled electric bills for power consumption in a mansion in northern Luzon.

Congresswoman Imee Marcos forwarded the payment, the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) said in a statement.

The amount represented arrears from August 2000, to October this year. Surcharges and interest fees totalling more than P200,000 ($3,846) were waived, otherwise the Marcoses would have had to pay P706,120 ($13,579).

INEC officials earlier informed former first lady Imelda Marcos about the waiving of interest and penalty charges in deference to the former strongman, known in northern Luzon as the "father of rural electrification".

Meanwhile, lawyer Oliver Lozano said the real Marcos loyalists will file a case against the ex-Marcos loyalists who spilled the beans on the former first lady.

They claimed she had received P2 billion ($38.4 million) in an out-of-court settlement from the Philippine Long Distance Company (PLDT).

Cherry Cobarrubias, president of the Marcos Loyalist Organisation, said despite the hefty out-of-court settlement for the alleged Marcos shares in the PLDT, Imalda failed to fulfil her promise to give financial assistance to her poor supporters.