MANILA Former First Lady Imelda Marcos, battling to stay out of prison, on Sunday formally entered her name in the May 11 presidential race and vowed to use the Marcos riches to bail the Philippines out of its economic crisis. The widow of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos walked on her knees inside a Manila church and prostrated herself at the altar after filing her candidacy papers in a nearby election office.

She always does that in critical moments of her life, an aide said of the once powerful woman known around the world for her extravagant shopping sprees when her husband was in power and for her more than 2,000 pairs of shoes. My decision (to run) was triggered by the economic crisis we now experience...I want to remove our people from our economic crisis by using the wealth of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, she said in a statement.

The Supreme Court recently upheld a 1993 trial court's verdict sentencing her to 12 years in jail for violating the anti-corruption law, bringing her closer to imprisonment. She is out on bail while appealing the verdict but faces scores of other lawsuits for allegedly helping her husband steal $5 billion from the economy during their 20-year rule. It will be her second run at the presidency since her return from exile six years ago.

She finished fifth in a seven-cornered race in 1992 which was won by current President Fidel Ramos. The late dictator was ousted in a popular revolt in 1986 and died in exile in Hawaii three years later. (Reuter)