He added: “I thought these issues were resolved 24 years ago. You won. The government fell.”

Over the years, the Marcoses have patiently worked at re-establishing their political power from their stronghold here, in the province of Ilocos Norte, where the younger Mr. Marcos, his older sister Imee and first cousins have, in rotation, held the seats for governor or the House. An early run by Mr. Marcos for the Senate failed, but he earned plaudits as governor by becoming the first person to erect windmills in the country and building tourism.

Image Imee Marcos, the eldest daughter of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, campaigning for provincial governor of Ilocos Norte. Credit... Jes Aznar for The New York Times

This time, Mr. Marcos is considered a very strong candidate for one of the 12 seats open for election in the Senate, the legislative body that has produced most of the country’s past presidents. Older voters may associate the Marcos name with martial law, political repression and cronyism. But in a country where half the population is under 22.5 years old and history is taught poorly, many young voters interviewed outside the Marcos redoubt here, like Jeffrey Zamora, a 31-year-old caretaker, said they knew little about the Marcos legacy.

Asked whether the family hoped that a Senate victory would allow the late president’s son to run for the presidency next time, Mariano Marcos, a first cousin, said, “Oh, yeah, that’s what all of us are hoping and working toward.”

But Mr. Aquino’s run for the presidency, his lead in the polls and his comment about the Marcoses’ wealth complicated matters, creating a family feud over which of Mr. Aquino’s opponents to back for president. When the dust settled, the Marcoses found themselves in need of a candidate for the House. With no one in the younger generation interested in politics yet, the family turned to its matriarch to run for the House seat being vacated by her son.

Leaving her home in Manila, Mrs. Marcos set up her campaign headquarters here in the little-used family mansion, where cobwebs still laced the living-room chandelier on a recent visit.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mrs. Marcos defended her husband’s legacy (thrusting her right index finger in the air) and bemoaned the government’s largely unsuccessful lawsuits against her family (dabbing her eyes). After her son’s success in exploiting wind power, Mrs. Marcos said she wanted to save the environment.