Marcos Remains Hospitalized; Trial Delay Seen

Imelda Marcos remained hospitalized Friday for a stomach ailment that had caused her to cough up blood in court, and one of her attorneys said that the former Philippines first lady was too ill to resume her trial on schedule.

Also Friday, the judge granted a request by CBS to quash a subpoena to compel journalist Diane Sawyer to testify about a 1986 interview with Mrs. Marcos.

Officials at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center said that Mrs. Marcos could be out of the hospital by Sunday, but lawyer John Tigue said there was “no way” she could be ready for a scheduled Tuesday court session.

Mrs. Marcos was visited at the hospital Friday by lawyer Gerry Spence, her two sisters and her son, Ferdinand Jr., family spokesman Roger Peyuan said. She rested well overnight and was feeling better, Peyuan said.

The hospital reported that “Mrs. Marcos’ condition is much improved and she is stabilized.”

Doctors diagnosed her illness as erosive gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach caused by excessive acid. They said the ailment could have been caused by stress but that it did not appear related to a high blood pressure condition for which she has been treated during the federal racketeering trial, which began on March 20.

Mrs. Marcos, 60, is accused of having helped her husband, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos, steal $220 million from their nation’s treasury, using the money for their own purposes.

The government had sought testimony from Sawyer to verify the authenticity of an interview she conducted with Mrs. Marcos on CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes.”

But U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan ruled that the public’s interest in a “vigorous, aggressive and independent” media outweighed the necessity of the testimony to the prosecution’s case.

The judge made his decision in a written opinion, although he told lawyers about his intention Thursday.

In the interview, Mrs. Marcos said her signature on a Swiss bank record found in the presidential palace in Manila was a forgery.

Prosecutors sought to show that Mrs. Marcos was lying because handwriting on the document, which was presented as evidence at the trial, has been positively identified as hers.