Exclusive: PCGG reacts to 'Picasso painting' seen in Imelda photo

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) would not comment if the painting seen on the wall of former First Lady Imelda Marcos was the missing “Reclining Woman VI” by Pablo Picasso.

In Mariz Umali's exclusive report on "24 Oras", PCGG chairman John Agbayani said the commission would not disclose what it planned to do but assured the public that it remained committed to recover ill-gotten wealth.

“I don’t want to speculate. The fact remains that we seized that painting in 2014 and it was reported as a replica in the sheriff's return,” Agbayani said in Mariz Umali’s report on “24 Oras”.

A copy of the return of writ attachment to the Sandiganbayan Special Division showed a list of 15 paintings the PCGG seized in one of Imelda’s residences in 2014.

These included the missing Picasso but the recovered masterpiece had been found to be a replica.

A painting which looked like the missing "Reclining Woman IV" was seen in photos released by the camp of presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of his and son Sandro's visit to Imelda's home after Eleksyon 2022.

Asked on Twitter if it was the missing Picasso, former PCGG chairman Andres Bautista replied with a thumbs-up emoji and that it was also seen in the documentary on Imelda, The Kingmaker.

Marcos' spokesman Atty. Vic Rodriguez has since challenged Bautista to return to the Philippines and make his allegations against the Marcoses in the country. 

Asked if the PCGG would again check on the former First Lady's residence, Agbayani said: “That’s an act which will not be publicized because you are looking for something, eh."

"That’s why I said the implementation of whatever writ may be issued by the courts would no longer be effective because of the publicity and noise about it," Agbayani said.

“We can do it discreetly if you want. If you ask me whether we will do something to visit the place etc., I’m sorry we will not tell you what we’re going to do," he added.

"I’ll just assure you that the PCGG is still committed to performing its mandate on recovery," Agbayani said.

Around 141 artworks are still missing, the PCGG said.

It is now coordinating with the Art Loss Register in finding them, admitting locating them all would be difficult.

“Basically, it is not so successful because only maybe one or two pieces of artwork were recovered," Agbayani said.

"There’s one Picasso painting which was recovered through the missing artwork and that's the, I think, the ‘One Head Woman’ was worth $1 million,” he added.

He said the recovered paintings were still under authentication, explaining it was not an easy task given that some of them were from the 18th Century.

The PCGG vowed to continue performing its Constitutional mandate even during the next administration which includes recovering Marcos’ alleged ill-gotten wealth, investigating the graft cases of other officials, and implementing measures to curb graft and corruption.

“As pronounced by our presumptive president, he stated that he will not abolish PCGG or initiate any move to that effect," Agbayani said.

"He will strengthen the commission to perform the function of a permanent anti-corruption agency of the government and nonetheless, I just assure you that the PCGG is not remised in performing its tasks in pursuing its mandate under the law,” he added. —Sundy Mae Locus/NB, GMA News