Marcos Family Now Talking of Returning to Homeland : Philippines: Acquittal resurrects their political hopes. But President Aquino says former first lady will be barred as a security risk.

When Imelda Marcos crawled on her knees down the long center aisle of St. Patrick’s Cathedral Monday to “thank Almighty God for my vindication,” the demonstration of humility and gratitude may also have represented her first steps back to the Philippines.

Shortly after an American jury declared Marcos not guilty of fraud and racketeering charges, her son, Ferdinand Jr., said: “Now we can think about going home.”

The Times has learned that, in the last week, several of Mrs. Marcos’ closest aides and staff members have applied to the Philippine consulate here for re-issuance of their Philippine passports.

The prospect of a Marcos return to the Philippines is a troubling one for officials on both sides of the Pacific.

“She’d be a tremendous destabilizing influence on our country; she cannot go back,” said one Philippine government official here. The official said it is unlikely the passport requests will be honored, at least not immediately.

From Manila, President Corazon Aquino expressed disappointment in Monday’s jury verdict, and she insisted that Mrs. Marcos will not be allowed to return. She called the former first lady a national security risk.

“At the appropriate time . . . she will have to stand before our courts,” said a statement released from the presidential palace at Malacanang.

A senior U.S. official in Washington acknowledged, “This is yet another thing that could weaken the Aquino government. You combine this (verdict) with all the other things that have been going on there--the death of a U.S. serviceman . . . and now the recall of the Peace Corps volunteers. It’s not going to look too good for them.”

The verdicts may have brought more than joy to members of the Marcos family. They may also have resurrected the family’s political hopes.

“If she’s convicted, we’re dead politically,” said one family member during the trial.

Because of the acquittal, Mrs. Marcos no longer is restricted by a pending criminal complaint, but she still is not free to leave the United States. She remains subject to an Immigration and Naturalization Service hold order issued in 1987.

At the time, for national security reasons linked to fears that she and her husband were plotting an armed return to the Philippines, the Marcoses were ordered to stay on the Hawaiian island of Oahu unless granted official approval to travel.

That hold order predated the criminal indictment and is not affected by the trial’s outcome. However, U.S. officials acknowledge privately that Mrs. Marcos could mount a serious legal challenge of that order, especially if she applied to relocate to a third country.

“If she moves to Morocco, we’d obviously have no way to keep her from taking the next flight (out of Morocco) to Manila,” the U.S. official said.

Philippine authorities remain determined to bar her from the country, where the Aquino government has withstood a number of serious overthrow attempts.

“The Marcoses have created a lot of suffering, and they shouldn’t be allowed to go where they might create more,” said Ted Laguatan, U.S.-based legal adviser to Aquino’s good government commission.

And Carmen (Chit) Pedrosa, spokeswoman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, issued a defiant statement saying:

“The acquittal . . . does not mean that Mrs. Marcos would not be answerable for frauds committed in the Philippines. The Philippine government and the Filipino people retain the prerogative to continue the criminal and civil cases currently pending before the Philippine courts.”

There was no disguising the disappointment and concern felt among the anti-Marcos members of the Aquino government, however. The mood at the Philippine Center on 5th Avenue was subdued, but determined.

“From little defeats come big victories,” Laguatan said.

It was Laguatan’s duty to call Aquino at Malacanang to inform her of the jury verdict.

He said she looked on the outcome philosophically. Aquino told him:

“All things are in God’s hands.”