Imelda at 77: Still standing

A few days short of 77, former First Lady Imelda Marcos is reveling in her staying power and legendary charm, telling Time magazine she could have talked former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein into surrendering — if only she were asked.

"I wish I were tapped in the problem about Iraq," Mrs. Marcos told Time’s Nelly Sindayen in an interview published in the July 3 issue of the news magazine. "I knew Saddam enough that I could have talked him into surrendering."

Mrs. Marcos, who turns 77 on July 2, also plans to do a Warren Buffett (the interview with Sindayen took place before the American tycoon’s announcement that he was donating 85 percent of his wealth to charity), telling Time she plans to use the fabled Marcos wealth "to remove the people from economic crisis."

"I will come up with a project that will wipe out poverty in the Philippines in two years," she announced. "Long after I’m gone, people will remember me for building them homes and roads and hospitals and giving them food."

To underscore her seriousness about using her wealth to uplift the lives of the poor, Mrs. Marcos told Sindayen, "The people should stop laughing at all this. They should stop thinking that I’m a bit touched in the head."

The former first lady expressed no regrets over her flamboyant style and insisted the fabled Marcos wealth was the fruit of her late husband Ferdinand’s business savvy.

"When Bill Gates was a college dropout, Ferdinand (her late husband) already possessed billions of dollars and tons of gold. It wasn’t stolen," she insisted.

On her extravagance, she said, "The problem with first ladies is that you have to set the standard... They’ve listed my name in the dictionary — ‘Imeldific’ is used to mean ostentatious extravagance... But the truth will prevail. At 77, I am still standing, still fighting the superpowers."

Mrs. Marcos was first lady from 1966 to 1986, a 20-year reign that ended after a civilian-backed military revolt that ousted her husband from the presidency and installed Corazon Aquino into power.

Mrs. Marcos was charged with racketeering by US courts in 1988, but was acquitted on her birthday, July 2.