Jewelry from former first lady Imelda Marcos’s collection has been placed on the auction block in a bid to recoup assets allegedly plundered during the Marcos era. The Bureau of Customs and the Presidential Commission on Good Government jointly announced the sale for this year, marking the first sale of Marcos wealth in nearly a decade.
Sotheby’s of London and Christie’s of New York, which conducted estimates of the jewels’ value earlier this year, are slated to auction the Marcoses’ Roumeliotes and Honolulu jewelry sets.
The administration hopes to sell the collection as an extension of its policy of selling state assets to boost government revenue and keep the national deficit below P202 billion.
We hope to auction off the collection within the year to raise funds for the government’s expenditures,” Antonio Bernardo, the customs commissioner, said. A member of the economic team added the sale would probably take place in Hong Kong or Paris.
The PCGG attempted to auction the Marcoses’ jewelry in 1994 but was unable to come to terms with international auctioneers. The Bureau of Customs has since requested the Roumeliotes collection be separated from the remainder of the Marcos jewels because ownership of this set is still unsubstantiated. The presidential commission conversely maintained that the pieces were part of the Marcoses’ looted assets.
Grace Tan, the PCGG commissioner, said the two departments are finalizing negotiations on the proposed auction. She added that the Marcos family and their acquaintances would be barred from bidding in the auction.
The Roumeliotes collection derives its name from Demetriou Roumeliotes, a Greek national and acquaintance of the former first lady. The jewels, placed inside a package addressed to Mrs Marcos, were seized by customs officials from Mr Roumeliotes on March 9, 1986 as he was fleeing the Philippines. He had denied she owned them and later, along with a jeweler with close connections to Mrs Marcos, asserted the pieces were fakes. Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s refuted this claim.
The Honolulu collection was seized by the US Customs Service when the Marcoses were exiled in Hawaii following the People Power revolution in 1986.
Sotheby’s appraised the value of the seized Marcos jewelry in 1990 at between $16,952,793 and $23,909,526 (USD). Included in the 60-piece Roumeliotes collection is a diamond-studded 30.71-carat marquise-stone bracelet, valued at $1.2 million in 1990; Sotheby’s had initially recommended further testing on this “exquisite” jewel in a laboratory. The total value of Mrs Marcos’s government-held jewels, consisting of 89 pieces, was valued by Sotheby’s in 1990 at between $4,194,920 and $5,736,600.
The assessment further includes the Marcoses’ silverware at $3,837,730 to $5,085,970; European ceramics at $194,000 to $280,700; Chinese ceramics at $290,103 to $423,136; icons at $58,390 to $85,520; and paintings at $8,377,650 to $12,297,600. The Marcos assets are kept in a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas vault; a 235-page catalogue highlighting the merchandise was submitted to the president and the Presidential Commission on Good Government. Several items, including icons and silverware, have since gone missing.
A 1995 ruling by the US District Court in Honolulu found the Marcoses guilty of complicity in summary executions, disappearances and tortures during their 20-year rule. The court awarded $2 billion to 9,539 Filipino victims of human-rights violations. The Marcos family appealed the ruling and plaintiffs have yet to receive compensation. Philippine law stipulates that any funds raised from the sale of plundered Marcos property must be used towards the government’s land-reform program.
The presidential commission had also sought the Nigerian embassy’s assistance in recovering the Marcoses’ stolen fortunes late last year. Ruben Carranza, the PCGG’s commissioner, said his department was in contact with a Swiss lawyer to track down Marcos assets allegedly deposited into Swiss and other international financial institutions. Mr Carranza said Swiss attorney Enrico Morfrini’s services could be instrumental in locating hidden Marcos assets because he was able to obtain the support of Switzerland’s government while in Nigeria. Mr Morfrini previously worked to reclaim assets looted by Sani Abacha, the late Nigerian dictator, during the Abacha regime.
