Ex-Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos kisses the glass casket of her dead but unburied husband to mark her political revival on March 26, 2010.
Ferdinand Marcos, the deposed leader of the Philippines, died in 1989 while in exile in Hawaii. His wife Imelda had his body embalmed, and returned it to the Philippines in 1993. The government has repeatedly refused her request to inter Marcos in Manila’s Cemetary of Heroes, so Imelda keeps her pickled husband on permanent display in the basement of her mansion in Batac, Ilocos Norte province. Gregorian music reportedly plays on loop inside the heavily air-conditioned room. On March 26, 2010, she posed for photos kissing the glass crypt and announced that she would stand in national elections for her husband’s former parliamentary seat. She later won the election with 80 % of all votes.