MANILA, Philippines - Former first lady Imelda Marcos on Wednesday vowed to vindicate the family's scandal-tainted name following her election to the Philippine House of Representatives by a landslide.

Meeting supporters in the northern province of Ilocos Norte, the 80-year-old said her triumph in Monday's elections would help disprove charges that her late husband was a corrupt dictator who led the country to ruin.

"We will make this an example of what a province can be," said the flamboyant woman known for her big hair and the thousands of shoes she left behind at the presidential palace after fleeing to exile in 1986.

"We can make this a province of human beings, a paradise," she added in a speech.

Marcos also thanked the public for electing her daughter Imee, 56, as governor of the province and noted that her only son, Ferdinand "Bong Bong" Marcos Jnr, 52, is virtually assured of election to the Senate.

Marcos expressed support for presidential frontrunner Benigno Aquino, whose father was assassinated in 1983 by troops loyal to the Marcoses, triggering a popular movement that installed his mother Corazon Aquino as president.

"I am praying for his success, for the Filipino people and for his commitment against corruption," she said.

Imelda's husband, Ferdinand Snr, had ruled the country for 20 years, much of it as a dictator after declaring martial law in 1972.

Marcos threw his opponents into jail, padlocked Congress and muzzled the press. He was also accused of looting state funds, which helped finance his wife's extravagant, jet-set lifestyle.

The fallen dictator died in exile in 1989 and his family was later allowed to return to the country, enabling them to rebuild their political network.

In her rambling speech, the Marcos widow profusely thanked Ilocanos -- the people of the family stronghold Ilocos Norte -- for remaining loyal to her husband even when the rest of the country had turned against him.

"You are the only ones who honor the Marcoses. I thank you," she said.

"I will not only serve as a congressman but as a mother and grandmother and I will be here 24-7... at all hours of the day and all the days of the week and the month," she told the Ilocanos.

The clan has won various positions since the 1990s after returning from exile but the Marcos heirs have never before managed a position as high as the nationally-elected Senate.