Former first lady Imelda Marcos, on the brink of imprisonment, told thousands of supporters yesterday she was a victim of persecution and only their love for her kept her going.
"Overwhelming, overwhelming," Mrs Marcos gushed as screaming mobs of "loyalists" embraced her, overwhelmed her with kisses and clawed at her dress when she attended an open air Mass for her in Manila's squalid Tondo district.
The Mass, attended by about 6,000 supporters, turned into a political rally as the 68-year-old widow of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos attacked the government for allegedly persecuting her.
Supporters handed out leaflets urging her to run for president in the May 11th national election. She unsuccessfully ran for the post in the 1992 election.
The Mass marked her first public speech since a five-judge panel of the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a trial court's 1993 ruling sentencing her to a maximum 12 years imprisonment for violating the anti-corruption law.
Mrs Marcos's lawyers are filing a motion for reconsideration to get the verdict overturned. If the panel sticks to its decision, she can appeal to the full bench of the Supreme Court.
If that also fails, only a presidential pardon or amnesty can save her from prison.
The courts found Mrs Marcos guilty of violating the anti-corrupt practices law for leasing a state property in 1984 to a foundation she headed.
The foundation sub-leased the property in a deal in which the government, according to trial records, lost $445,000. Mrs Marcos has said the proceeds from the deal were used to modernise a state hospital for the poor. Mrs Marcos is facing scores of other lawsuits.