HONOLULU -- A sobbing Imelda Marcos begged Saturday for U.S. officials to allow her daughter to come to the United States for medical treatment.
Imelda Marcos said her daughter, Imee Marcos Manotoc, 30, who lives in Morocco, has been bleeding for the past five weeks and has lost 15 pounds, possibly due to complications of a stillborn birth she suffered four years ago.
'She must see a gynecologist,' Marcos said.
But Marcos said her daughter would not be allowed into the United States unless she agrees to appear before a grand jury investigating her father, ousted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. The grand jury is looking into alleged kickbacks of millions of dollars from U.S. funds to the Philippines.
'This is the height of unprecedented inhuman and immoral child abuse,' Imelda Marcos said. 'She is sick and she has to choose between her life and the life of her father.'
'Imee will forgo freedom and life but she will never testify against her father and her family,' she said.
Marcos spoke of her daughter's dilemma at her hillside estate overlooking downtown Honolulu. She immediately donned her trademark dark black sunglasses as she began to sob.
In one hand she held a lace handkerchief and nervously rubbed a rosary with the other. Nearby stood a makeshift altar flanked by two burning candles.
'I went to the immigration department (Friday),' she said, 'and they said 'What makes you think you are different and why should she be allowed in when there is a warrant for her arrest?'
'I am different. I am not a citizen of the United States, subject to the law of America. I am a Filipino,' she said.
Marcos said she hid her daughter's plight from her husband because she did not want to worry him or get him involved in the attempt to extricate her. Marcos then cradled her head in her hands and stopped momentarily to violently sob.
U.S. officials have not confirmed Manotoc's illness. Marcos said her daughter would not consent to being examined by a government-approved doctor to determine the extent of her illness.
Manotoc left the United States just after the Marcoses arrived in Honolulu in February 1986. She was issued a subpoena to appear before a grand jury in Virginia to testify about the alleged skimming and did not return for questioning.
U.S. officials told the Marcoses because Manotoc failed to answer the court order, she will be arrested if she returns to the United States.
Manotoc, the eldest Marcos daughter, attended Princeton University and became a lawyer. When her father was president, she was elected unopposed to the Philippine parliament.
Her mother said Manotoc had no passport and cannot travel to a European country for medical assistance. Philippine officials revoked all the passports of the Marcos family when the exiled president arrived in the United States, where officials gave them parole visas. U.S. officials believe Manotoc has traveled under a false name with a Bolivian passport.
This article has been corrected to reflect that Manotoc attended Princeton University, but did not graduate with a degree.
