The Region - News from Feb. 26, 1987

One year after former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, fled to Hawaii, attorneys for the Philippines government filed a $52-billion lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the couple and several of their associates, claiming that they fraudulently took billions of dollars out of the country for their personal benefit. The suit’s claims are similar to those made in a June, 1986, action filed in Los Angeles federal court. Attorneys for the Philippines said the latest filing was a “backup” to the earlier complaint. Among other allegations, the lawsuit charges that the Marcoses and others, acting in the form of an “organized criminal syndicate,” exploited the Philippine people for 20 years and amassed a fortune of more than $2 billion.