Sandigan awards ill-gotten Marcos jewelry collection to government

(Updated 12:20 p.m., Jan. 14) The Sandiganbayan Special Division on Monday ordered the so-called Malacañang jewelry collection, one of three collections confiscated from former first lady Imelda Marcos in 1986, forfeited in favor of the government.

 

In a decision written by Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz, chairman of the anti-graft court's First Division, the court ruled the jewelry collection, the smallest and least valuable of the three, was part of the Marcoses' ill-gotten wealth.

 

The court said “partial summary judgment is hereby rendered declaring the pieces of jewelry, known as the Malacañang Collection, as ill-gotten, and are hereby forfeited in favor of petitioner Republic of the Philippines.”

 

Associate Justices Teresita Diaz-Baldos and Alex Quiroz concurred with the decision.

Long overdue

In a text message Tuesday, Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said the decision was long overdue.

“Matagal na ang panahon ng paghihintay ni Juan de la Cruz sa mga utos ng hukuman tulad nito na maghahatid ng katarungan sa sambayanan sa isyu ng pagsauli ng ilegal na yaman,” he said.
 

The Marcos family tried to block the Presidential Commission on Good Government from claiming the collection—assessed to be worth from $110,055 to $153,089—saying they it was not covered by Civil Case No. 0141 filed in 1987.

 

The Sandiganbayan ruled in favor of the PCGG, though, saying the Malacañang Collection was included in the government claim. The case also includes five Marcos Swiss foundations—Aguamina, Avertina, Palmy, Vibur, and Maler—and the Arelma foundation in Singapore.

Jewelry collections

 

The Malacañang Collection is kept in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas along with the Roumeliotes and Hawaii collections, PCGG public information officer Nick Suarez said.

 

The collection is composed of smaller, less expensive pieces that the Marcoses left behind when they fled during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.

 

The Hawaii collection, meanwhile, comprises jewelry found in the family's luggage when they arrived at the Honolulu International Airport on February 25, 1986.

 

The 60-piece Roumeliotes Collection was seized from Demetriou Roumeliotes, a Greek national, at the Manila International Airport as he was about to leave the country in March 1986.

 

PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General said the three jewelry collections should go to the government because the sum of the Marcos assets previously forfeited by the courts were already well beyond their lawful income of $304,372.43 in 1986 as already pronounced by the Supreme Court. — with Kimberly Jane Tan/JDS/KBK, GMA News