Marcos loses legal effort to silence documentary

A Manila court rejected a lawsuit by former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos to keep a documentary about her flamboyant life off the country's movie screens.

Marcos, 75, claimed she approved "Imelda" as a school project and not as a commercial movie. She also said it was full of "malice, inaccuracies and innuendoes."

Judge Maria Cristina Cornejo denied Marcos' petition Monday, saying that contrary to her claims, she had signed a permission document to release the film.

Sandra Coronel, a lawyer for producer Ramona Diaz and distributor Unitel Pictures Inc., said the court order means the film can be shown in the Philippines. Diaz said that "Imelda" — a portrait of the woman who dazzled the world with her beautification projects and an enormous shoe collection while her country languished in poverty — is balanced.