Since the weekend, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has been publishing excerpts from an interview with 69-year-old Imelda Marcos in which she said she would file suit for the recovery of the money from former aides of Marcos.

``We own practically everything in the Philippines,'' Imelda was quoted as saying in one of the instalments.'' She said aides were given large amounts of money by Marcos to acquire companies for him. ``This was in the 1970s. Now they want to hold on to the wealth they did not own in the first place,'' she was quoted as saying.

Imelda was at her husband's side while he ruled the Philippines with a grip of iron for 20 years. She was dubbed the Iron Butterfly, or the lady with a thousand shoes for her profligate spending, and her relationship with her husband was labelled byopponents as ``The conjugal dictatorship.''

The Marcoses fled the Philippines in 1986 after a people's power revolution. Imelda left behind 1,220 pairs of shoes, 500 gowns and 300 bras, one of which was bullet-proof, in the palace.

Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in 1989 and Imelda returned home two years later.

It has been a tempestuous time for her since. The government filed suits against her seeking to reclaim wealth which the family amassed during Marcos' years in power. Imelda was convicted of graft and sentenced to 12 years in jail but the Supreme Court reversed the decision in October.

``I have been praying that she will file the cases in court so that she can make it easier for the government,'' said solicitor general Ricardo Galves.

``She can show us how the properties were legally acquired and whether her family really owned the assets,'' he said, adding that the Marcoses had shown total income of only around 16 million pesos from 1965 to 1984.

Two of Imelda's three children, FerdinandJunior, the governor of Ilocos Norte province, and daughter Imee, one of the district's representatives in Congress, are negotiating with president Joesph Estrada on a formula to regain some of the wealth while giving up claims on the rest, news reports have said.

Presidential palace officials said Imelda's latest claims may put a stop to those negotiations, because of differences within the Marcos family.

``We love our mother, but sometimes she is wild and crazy,'' Imee Marcos told a television station earlier this week, when asked about the claims.

But she said the next day: ``My brother's, my sister's and my relationship with my mother is impeccable.'' Outspoken senator Miriam Santiago however said even if Imelda managed to prove she had legitimate claim to the wealth, she would then have to show it was legally acquired. ``She might only be extending a piece of rope that eventually could be used to hang her with, Santiago said.