Imelda can bid for jewels at auction

Former First Lady Imelda Marcos can make her own bid for the jewelry seized from her by the government 19 years ago when the collection goes on auction, officials said yesterday.

"You cannot ask (international auction houses) Christie’s or Sotheby’s to prohibit anyone from participating in an auction. Even the devil can participate in the auction," said Commissioner Ricardo Abcede of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

He said even if the collection falls into the hands of a genuine collector, "we will never know if he will sell it to another person. It could be that he would be able to sell it to Mrs. Marcos, or to a dummy of the Marcoses."

Nick Suarez, a PCGG spokesman, said the government is eyeing an auction in Geneva in November 2005 or May 2006. The Arroyo administration hopes to raise at least $10 million by having the jewelry of Marcos and Greek national Demetrious Roumeliotes auctioned off by either Christie’s or Sotheby’s.

Marcos, however, vowed to file a case in a Manila court to stop the sale.

Abcede said if Marcos manages to reacquire some of the controversial jewelry, she will have to part with some of her alleged ill-gotten wealth. He said the matter of how Marcos raises the money to buy back any jewelry would have to be handled by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Marcos claims she is currently living off donations made by her many supporters, he added.

"I think Marcos is smart enough not to reacquire this jewelry, even if she has the money. That is her decision. I am not saying that it is okay. It is a personal decision of Marcos or anyone who has money enough to buy. How can I make a policy statement on a personal matter that only (she) can make?" Abcede asked.

He said the PCGG cannot file a temporary restraining order against Marcos to prevent her from participating in the auction, and neither can the government "compel Christie’s or Sotheby’s to exclude" the former first lady.

Abcede said the PCGG will not waste time speculating on Marcos’ next move, but he believes "she will not participate nor reacquire" the sequestered jewelry.

Representatives from the two auction houses are expected to arrive by Sept. 15 to inspect and appraise the jewelry collection, now sitting in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, prior to submitting sealed bids.

A tripartite government committee will choose the winning auction house and discuss terms of reference, insurance, consignment agreements and other details with its representatives, he said.

The tripartite committee is composed of the PCGG, represented by Abcede; the Bureau of Customs, represented by Commissioner Alex Arevalo; and the Department of Finance, represented by Undersecretaries Noel Bonoan and Gabriel Singson Jr.

Reports described the pieces of jewelry as "works of art" due to their exquisite design, breathtaking size and the superb quality of the gems.

One of the pieces up for auction is a yellow-gold diamond-studded bracelet set with a 30.71-carat marquise-cut diamond, crafted by Bulgari. When it was appraised by Sotheby’s in 1990, the auction house gave a conservative estimate of $800,000 to $1.2 million.

Abcede said there are three collections — Roumeliotes, Malacañang and Honolulu — named after the locations where the jewelry was originally seized by the government.

The Roumeliotes collection, worth an estimated $9 million, is named after the Greek national who is reportedly a friend of Marcos. The jewelry was seized from him at the airport by Customs officers as he was about to leave the country in March 1986.

Roumeliotes denied the jewelry was owned by Marcos and claimed the pieces were made of paste.

The Honolulu jewelry pertains to the precious stones confiscated from the Marcos family by the United States government when they arrived to their exile home of Hawaii in February 1986. Marcos said the pieces were in "32 to 34" Louis Vuitton cases when they were seized.

The Malacañang collection is composed of pieces recovered from the Palace in 1986 after the military-backed uprising that unseated the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The two Marcos collections, according to Abcede, are worth at least $1 million.

Abcede said the proceeds will go to the government’s land reform program.

Buyers beware

Marcos, meanwhile, said her lawyers "are sending notices to Christie’s, Sotheby’s and all these international auction houses because this placement can’t be sold." She warned that the two auction houses "would be endangering their clients and buyers" but did not elaborate.

The government says the jewels were bought with money embezzled from the National Treasury, but Marcos rejects the claim and says the jewels are all hers — and that authorities had no right to take them.

"Some of these jewelry (pieces) are heirlooms of my family," she said. "I have not been convicted of corruption anywhere."

Marcos, who with her husband and cronies, was alleged to have embezzled around $10 billion during two decades in power, said the seizure was illegal but Abcede said the jewels were legally seized by United States and Philippines customs authorities.

"There are no legal impediments to the auction," he said, adding that the Supreme Court has upheld the seizure.

Abcede said the collections could fetch an even higher price compared to the conservative total estimate of $10 million because "there is so much fascination, not only in this country but all over the world," for the Marcos jewels. "And not only by women," he added.

Marcos, interviewed on the phone near her husband’s northern home town of Batac, Ilocos Norte, vowed to fight the sale in court, saying several legal cases involving the jewelry have failed to establish that it was acquired with ill-gotten wealth.

"I’m filing a case in Manila for the PCGG to stop the sale," she said. "There is no (court) conviction that those were bought with ill-gotten wealth."

Marcos, 76, said she will file the case in a Manila court before the end of the week, but details were not immediately clear. Her lawyer could not be reached for comment.

She also said she was "praying" to recover the jewelry.

Funding secured

Meanwhile, Agrarian Reform office-in charge Nasser Pangandaman said yesterday that funding for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) will only be secure if the Marcoses’ recovered assets are successfully sold.

Earlier, former agrarian reform secretary Rene Villa hinted that funds available to CARP might no longer be enough to implement the government’s land distribution scheme, which would be terminated by 2008.

With only P8 billion left from the P34 billion in recovered Marcos funds, Pangandaman said the money from the sale of the jewelry would "help us speed up the distribution of the remaining 700,000 hectares of mostly privately owned agricultural land."

He noted that 3.5 million hectares have already been distributed since CARP was first implemented 17 years ago.

Aside from the jewelry, the PCGG said it is putting up for sale $23 billion worth of ill-gotten assets of the Marcoses and their associates, the proceeds of which will go to CARP.

Among these assets are the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp., worth P3 billion, and the government’s 72.4-percent stake in Radio Philippine Network, valued at P1.3 billion.

Also up for sale are real estate properties in Baguio City, which includes the 17,516-square meter J. Y. Campos Compound, worth P121.53 billion; the 3,875-sqm Hans Menzi Compound, P34.67 billion; and the 1,146-sqm Wigwam Compound, P14 billion.

The PCGG also plans to sell government shares in the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., A. Soriano Corp., Lepanto Consolidated, and Philex Mining Corp., which have a combined value of P83 billion. — With Katherine Adraneda, AFP, AP