FERDINAND Marcos is going home. Almost four years after his death in exile in Hawaii, the embalmed body of the former Philippine dictator is to be laid to rest in an elaborate shrine built by his widow, Imelda.
Given the Marcos penchant for drama, there will be emotional scenes when the chartered Boeing 727 touches down at Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte, 490 kilometres north of Manila.
The late president's vast band of followers is preparing a tumultuous welcome for the body's arrival next Wednesday and Imelda is said to be considering using a glass coffin - an idea apparently borrowed from Cinderella, the fairy tale with which she likes to compare her life story.
According to Imelda, this burial will only be temporary as she wants to follow through on her late husband's wishes and bury him in Manila.
This will not happen until the government of President Fidel Ramos, which believes bringing the body to Manila could provoke unrest, lifts a decree banning his return to the capital. Despite this, Mr Ramos, a Marcos second cousin, is sending his sister, Senator Leticia Shahani, to represent him at the funeral.
When he is laid to rest, Marcos will once again be close to his mother, Josefa, who died in 1988. Her refrigerated body is being kept at the Marcos ancestral home in Ilocos Norte.
Marcos' body will be smartly turned out for the occasion. Morticians in Hawaii regularly performed ''routine maintenance'', changing body fluids, his clothes and washing his hair.