Imelda Marcos' famous collection of shoes damaged by termites, floods

Manila, Sept 24: Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, had a famous collection of 3,000 pairs of shoes. When the Marcos couple fled the country at the climax of popular revolt in 1986, Imelda left behind a staggering number of personal belongings, clothes and art objects at the presidential palace, that included 1,220 pairs of her shoes. All these were kept at the National Museum in Manila, but recent floods and termits have damaged a large number of shoes and clothings. A Daily Mail report said, among the damaged shoes are a pair of white Pierre Cardin heels, the sole of one destroyed by termites. Other shoes have been warped out of shape or messed by stains.Hundreds of pieces of late strongman Ferdinand Marcos' clothing, including the formal native see-through Barong shirts he wore during his two-decade rule, have also begun to gather mould and fray after being stored for years without protection at the presidential palace and Manila's National Museum, officials added.Ironically, more than 150 boxes of clothes, dress accessories and shoes of the Marcoses were transferred to the National Museum for safekeeping two years ago after termites, humidity and mould threatened the apparel at the riverside palace. There they deteriorated further as the fragile boxes were abandoned in a padlocked museum hall that had no facilities to protect them. Last month the pieces were further damaged by tropical storm rains from a gushing leak in the ceiling, museum officials said. Museum staffers, who were not aware the boxes contained precious mementoes from the Marcoses, opened the hall on the fourth floor of the building after noticing water pouring out from under the door. They were shocked to see Marcos' shoes and gowns when they opened the wet boxes, officials said. Workers hurriedly moved the boxes to a dry room and some were later brought to a museum laboratory, where a small team of curators scrambled to assess the extent of the damage, a process that may take months given the huge volume of the apparel. Some items have obviously been damaged by termites and mould beyond repair, according to museum curator Orlando Abinion, who is heading the effort.