IMELDAS SHOES AND YEARS OF NEGLECT.

The first lady left behind the collection when she and her dictator husband, Ferdinand, were driven into exile in the US by a popular revolt in 1986.

Hundreds of pieces of the late strongman's clothing, including the formal native see-through Barong shirts he wore during his two-decade rule, have also begun to gather mold and fray after being stored for years without protection at the presidential palace and later at Manila's National Museum, officials told The Associated Press.
The Marcoses fled the Philippines at the climax of the army-backed ''people power'' revolt, which became a harbinger of change in authoritarian regimes worldwide.
Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 and his widow and children returned home years later.
They left behind staggering amounts of personal belongings, clothes and art objects at the palace in Manila, including at least 1220 pairs of Imelda Marcos's shoes.
More than 150 cardboard 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 mold threatened the apparel at the riverside palace.
At the museum they deteriorated further as the fragile boxes were abandoned in a padlocked hall that had no facilities to protect such relics and that was inundated by tropical storms last month due to 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's shoes and gowns when they opened the wet boxes, officials said.
Workers moved the boxes to a dry room and some were later brought to a museum laboratory, where curators scrambled to assess the extent of the damage, a process that may take months.
Some items have obviously been damaged by termites and mold beyond repair, according to curator Orlando Abinion.
''There was termite infestation and mold in past years, and these were aggravated by last month's storm,'' he said.
''It's unfortunate because Imelda may have worn some of these clothes in major official events and as such they have an important place in our history.''
Two AP journalists saw a badly tattered box at the museum with damaged and soiled leather bags and designer shoes bulging out.


Termites had damaged the heel and sole of a white Pierre Cardin shoe.
Other shoes had been warped out of shape or badly stained.
About 100 of Ferdinand Marcos's Barong shirts were squeezed into another box, some still attached to plastic hangers and others obviously damaged.
Imelda Marcos, now a member of the House of Representatives, was not immediately available for comment today.
Her massive shoe collection, including top US and European brands, astounded the world and became a symbol of excess in a nation where many still walked barefoot out of abject poverty.
Ferdinand Marcos's successor, democracy icon Corazon Aquino, accused him of stealing billions of dollars during his 20-year rule and ordered many of his assets seized.
The clothes and shoes of the Marcoses were not among the assets allegedly stolen by them and sequestered by the government following the dictator's fall, according to Presidential Commission on Good Government official Maita Gonzaga.


The government has so far recovered $2.24 billion worth of cash, bank accounts and prime real estate from the Marcoses and their cronies, she said.
After the 1986 revolt, Aquino had Imelda Marcos's shoes displayed at the presidential palace as a symbol of the former first lady's lavish lifestyle.
The shoes were then removed from public view and stored in the palace basement when Aquino stepped down in 1992.
Imelda Marcos claimed many of the shoes were gifts from Filipino shoemakers in suburban Marikina city, the country's shoemaking capital.
Marikina officials borrowed 800 pairs of Imelda's shoes in 2001 for a shoe museum, which has become a tourist spot.
Massive flooding, however, damaged dozens of pairs in Marikina in 2009.
About 760 pairs, many made by top designers, survived the floods and still look remarkably new due to meticulous museum care.