Before leaving her exile in Honolulu, Mrs. Marcos, a prodigious collector of shoes, gave a demonstration of her style -- taking off and brandishing a white, size eight Charles Jourdan shoe with a gold ornament and declaring that she was ready to resume her role as "a symbol, a standard for the Filipino people, something like a Miss Philippines."

Recalling her flight from Manila in February 1986 aboard an American helicopter with her husband, she said, "It was very much Cinderella."

"The slipper was lost," she said, fitting her shoe back on. 'And everything turned into a pumpkin."

With a bustle of packing at her hillside mansion in Honolulu that called to mind the hurried crating of pesos, gold and jewels as she evacuated Malacanang Palace in 1986, Mrs. Marcos prepared to return home to face more than 60 criminal and civil cases based on the contention that she and her husband robbed the country of billions of dollars during his 20-year rule.

Manila officials said she could be charged in her first week home with tax fraud. Other charges will be aimed at recovering at least $356 million the Marcoses secreted in Swiss banks.

"Marcos was no taker," his widow said. "He was a giver."

For now she has left behind the still-unburied body of her husband, who died in Hawaii in September 1989. She said she would bring it home only when she could bury it near Manila.