Wearing an old rose dress, pearl earrings and four-inch high stiletto shoes, she fidgeted with a rosary and occasionally dug into her handbag for paper towels to wipe her face as she sat on the front row of the gallery.

She refused later to discuss the case with journalists, referring queries to her lawyer, as ``he knows best''. But she added: ``I am very optimistic.''A special court had sentenced Imelda Marcos, a former member of her late husband's cabinet, to up to 24 years in prison for approving the lease of government property to a private foundationwhich she also headed at what prosecutors considered to be below market rates.

The court said the foundation then turned around and subleased the property to another corporation for seven times the original lease, depriving the state of 180 million pesos in potential rental fees.

The Supreme Court in January shortened her jail term and acquitted her convicted co-conspirator, former transportation minister Jose Dans. She has been free on bail as her lawyers petitioned the higher court to overturn its verdict. If the court affirms its decision she would be left with no choice but to serve the prison sentence.

Her chief lawyer, Estelito Mendoza, on Thursday argued for her acquittal, saying the government's case rested only on documentary evidence which he asserted did not constitute ``sufficient proof'' for the guilty verdict.The chief government lawyer, Ricardo Galvez, maintained that the state's failure to establish proof of conspiracy did not get Imelda Marcos off the hook. The Supreme Court did notmake an immediate ruling but ordered lawyers for both sides to submit written rebuttals.

Her legal battle is proceeding amid a parallel battle among several groups of claimants to her late husband's estate, that has been valued by some experts at up to $10 billion.

The government argues the bulk were stolen from the national treasury during the Marcos family's 20-year rule, but victims of human rights violations during that era are pressing home a US court ruling which awarded them $2 billion in damages. Two sets of lawyers for the 10,000 victims represented in the class suit are also quarrelling with each other, while communist guerrillas want the estate to form part of a political settlement to their 29-year rebellion.

President Joseph Estrada on Wednesday said he wanted all sequestered assets of the Marcoses and their business allies sold off in a year as he received $25 million in proceeds from the sale of assets surrendered by Marcos cronies.

The Swiss Supreme Court meanwhile has caused thetransfer of about $570 million in Marcos accounts to an escrow account in Manila to await a court ruling on their ownership.

Estrada also described as ``too small'' a reported $150,000 offer by Imelda Marcos to settle the cases against the estate. Estrada's spokesman Fernando Barican, however, told reporters that Imelda Marcos had called him up to deny that she never made such an offer.

``No comment. My cases are under litigation,'' she told reporters.