Marcos’ Mother Is Told He’s Away on Speaking Tour

MANILA —  The 93-year-old mother of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos asked for her son this week, but friends told her he was away on a speaking engagement, a priest close to the family said.

Five months after Marcos fled to Hawaii during a civilian-backed military revolt, his hospitalized mother, Josefa Edralin Marcos, has not been told that her son’s 20-year rule has ended, according to Father Domingo Niebres and doctors at the suburban Manila hospital where she has been a patient for eight years.

“We just hide the truth because it’s too hard to explain,” said Niebres, who conducted Mass for her Sunday. The priest said hospital attendants always switch channels on her television when news about her son is broadcast.