Danny Chan

A collection of jewels, gowns and shoes seized from former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos may be auctioned off, an official has stated. Ricardo Abcede, the Presidential Commission on Good Government’s commissioner, said the commission is examining the feasibility of selling Mrs Marcos’s collection in a bid to recover some of the wealth plundered during the Marcos era.

“I believe that with all the publicity generated by Imelda Marcos … the jewelry collection and other items would be (worth) much, much more than the appraised value,” Mr Abcede said on Sept. 29. “There are also eccentric collectors, they might be interested in the shoes or in the gowns.”

International auction houses including Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonham’s have expressed interest in selling the jewelry collection, appraised at upwards of $10 million (US). Mr Abcede said the gowns and shoes were “non-performing assets” that “should have been (sold) a long time ago.” He said the jewelry collection might sell for $150 million (US) in an international auction.

“I think with the worldwide publicity that the jewelry has received, plus the fascination with Imelda, the total price could be 15 times what has been previously estimated. This has happened several times with auction houses,” Mr Abcede said, adding that former US President John F. Kennedy’s rocking chair fetched a price 15 times its estimated value.

“It’s a celebrity auction, meaning the price will be dictated not by the item itself but (by) its association with the celebrity,” he said. “With the mystique and fascination with Imelda, we expect a lot.”

Despite initial plans to conduct the auction overseas, the PCGG is instead considering proposals to stage it in the Philippines in order to attract tourists as well as divert sales taxes to Manila rather than fill a foreign government’s coffers. Mr Abcede moreover suggested next March as a likely auction date because it would coincide with an international jewelry fair in Hong Kong.

The commissioner said keeping the jewelry on display, as requested by some parties, goes against the PCGG’s mandate and would require a congressional amendment.

“We have a mandate to sell all assets sequestered by us or surrendered to us from the Marcoses and their cronies,” Mr Abcede said. “The jewelry is a non-performing asset. What am I supposed to do here? Unless the law is amended or I am told by my superiors, the auction will push through. The jewelry is a symbol of Imelda Marcos frivolity. It’s not an art collection to be displayed. We want closure here so we can move on.”

The jewelry collection comes from three sources: around 300 items left behind in Malacanang when the Marcoses fled; about 400 items confiscated by US Customs in Hawaii when the couple arrived in 1986; and the Roumeliotes collection confiscated at Manila’s airport in 1986 from Demetriou Roumeliotes, a Greek national and allegedly an acquaintance of Mrs Marcos.

The commissioner added that displaying the gowns and shoes was currently untenable because “people lose interest after around three months.” He said they would be put to better use by auctioning them off, with the proceeds going to the country’s land-reform program.

Although Mrs Marcos has repeatedly sought a court injunction to block the sale, stating she is the jewelry’s legal proprietor, Mr Abcede said the PCGG has been selling off sequestered assets under Executive Order No. 1 since its inception in 1986 during Corazon Aquino’s presidency.

“As far as we are concerned, there is no legal impediment to the sale,” Mr Abcede said.

During the Marcos years, Ferdinand Marcos initiated grandiose projects and threw lavish parties as his mismanaged country descended deeper into poverty. Following the first “people power” revolution in 1986 that ended 20 years of the Marcos regime, Mrs Marcos reportedly left behind hundreds of gowns and over 3,000 pairs of shoes, including many designed by Ferragamo, Givenchy, Chanel and Christian Dior.

Mrs Marcos admitted owning “only” 1,060 pairs and said the shoes—all size 8½—were gifts from shoe manufacturers in Mariking City. The footwear collection earned Mrs Marcos notoriety around the world and became synonymous with ostentatious wealth. Some of the shoes have since been donated to a Manila-area shoe museum, while the presidential palace museum currently houses five pairs of her satin shoes, at least two of her gowns, a bulletproof vest, parasols, paintings, silverware and several pieces of furniture.

A PCGG official shows a tiara inlaid with diamonds and South Sea pearls from a collection seized from former First Lady Imelda Marcos. Photo by AFP Philippine Headline News

Following the announcement of the auction of Imelda Marcos’s confiscated jewels, new allegations have emerged that members of Corazon Aquino’s coterie looted some of the Marcos jewels in the days immediately following the Marcoses’ ouster.

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile told a Philippine newspaper on Oct. 4 that the remaining jewelry represents only the remains of the Marcos jewels. Mr Enrile told the Manila Times the “more beautiful and expensive ones had already been grabbed by persons you often see in newspapers.” He said that on Feb. 28, 1986—three days after the Marcoses fled to the United States—he saw jewelry, a Swiss Bank contract and trust instruments in the home of Angelita Reyes in Dasmarinas Village, Makati. The items were allegedly removed from Malacanang by a group led by Mrs Aquino’s sister-in-law, Margarita (Tingting) Cojuangco, Mr Enrile said, adding an investigation into the alleged looting should have been conducted in 1986.

“It’s evident there was no case filed. And the only possible explanation for that is the fact that the people who were concerned were friends of the administration, and they did not want them to go to jail,” Mr Enrile said.

Also present in the home were Jovito Salonga, Pedro Yap and Ramon Diaz, who was named to the Presidential Commission on Good Government. Mrs Aquino founded the PCGG to recover the wealth looted by the Marcoses.

Mr Salonga, a former senator and former PCGG chair, corroborates the allegations in his book “Presidential Plunder”. In the book, Mr Salonga alleges Ms Cojuangco, a former governor of Tarlac, knew about the looting at Malacanang.

He writes that on Feb. 28, 1986, Ms Reyes and her colleagues went to the presidential palace where they found documents and “articles”. He adds that then finance minister Jaime Ongpin asked him, Mr Yap and armed forces chief Fidel Ramos to visit the Reyes household.

“How about the documents and articles in Malacanang before the turnover to us on March 1? In giving a partial answer several points mush be considered. First, when the Marcoses and their retinue fled the Palace on the evening of Feb. 25, 1986, they brought with them to Hawaii documents and articles of value,” Mr Salonga wrote in his book.

“Second, [the Marcoses] fled in a hurry and left many documents and articles behind. A mob surged into the Palace shortly after their departure and took some papers and articles.

“Third, Dr. Angelita Reyes told us that she, along with some people identified with Ms Tingting Cojuangco, went to the Palace on the morning of Feb. 28. What happened inside the Palace between Feb. 28 up to the turnover to us of the documents and articles in the afternoon of March 1 is beyond the personal knowledge of then Commissioner Yap and myself, but probably within the personal knowledge of this group,” he added.

Ricardo Abcede, the current PCGG commissioner, asked why Mr Enrile was raising the issue almost 20 years after the event.

“If this really happened, they should have done something about it. He was head of the national defense,” Mr Abcede said.

“You mean he allowed this to happen in front of his eyes? You mean the PCGG commissioners all let this to happen in front of their eyes?” he added. He further alleged Ms Reyes, Mr Enrile, Mr Salonga and other PCGG officials should be charged as co-conspirators or as accessories to stealing.

“You can be an accessory because right there and then you can make a citizens arrest. You can prevent the crime,” Mr Abcede said, adding “for whatever it’s worth” the PCGG should request that the National Bureau of Investigation or another government agency should examine the issue. He did concede that an inquiry 20 years after the fact would be difficult while further denouncing Mr Enrile’s claims as a “fairy tale”.

“I do not want to be chasing rainbows here. I have more important things to do,” Mr Abcede said. He hypothesized that Mr Enrile publicized his allegations to coincide with the forthcoming auction of the Marcos jewels, which is expected to raise $150 million. Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonham’s are bidding for the auction rights.

“This will not affect the auction and I think this will raise the jewelry’s value because this would add to the history of the jewels,” he said.

The looting of the Marcos jewels has been an open secret in the Philippines for almost two decades. Malacanang insiders were often reluctant to publicize the allegations for fear of being cast as anti-government, observers have suggested. Mrs Aquino was loved across the archipelago and, by extension, so were her relatives. There are also further unsubstantiated claims that Mrs Aquino’s relatives helped themselves to items in the Marcos family homes in Olot, Leyte and the Sto. Nino Shrine in Tacloban City.


Copyright ©2005 Danny Chan. About the author