PCGG chief, commissioners disown auction of Imelda jewels

MANILA, Philippines - Commissioners of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), including Ricardo Abcede, have not been authorized by the agency’s chairman, Camilo Sabio, to pursue efforts to auction off the confiscated jewelry of former first lady Imelda Marcos worth over P15 billion in the remaining days of the Arroyo administration.

In a statement issued yesterday, the PCGG said that the commission, in a meeting last May 6, had discussed a proposal to auction the confiscated jewelry but decided to leave the matter to the next administration.

“At this meeting, the Commission noted that there has been no resolution of the Commission authorizing the sale of the collection,” the PCGG statement said.

“Chairman Camilo Sabio and Commissioners Narciso Nario, Tereso Javier and Jaime Bautista agreed that they are in favor of leaving this matter to the next Commission,” the PCGG said.

“The Commission said there is still a legal impediment to the sale of the so-called Malacañang collection of Marcos jewelry, the ownership of which is still pending litigation in the Sandiganbayan, and that it is not timely to consider this matter because this could be viewed as a so-called midnight transaction,” the statement read.

Abcede, who figured in a controversy when he invited Mrs. Marcos to his birthday party a few years ago, has been aggressively pursuing coordination with officials of the Department of Finance (DOF) and Bureau of Customs and had initiated contact with international auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s in an effort to auction the jewelry by June 30.

PCGG officials told The STAR that Abcede was at the May 6 meeting.

Abcede’s efforts culminated in a meeting yesterday morning with Finance officials led by Secretary Margarito Teves, and top executives of Christie’s and Sotheby’s at the DOF office along Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

Meantime, Abcede seems to have found an ally in Malacañang.

Deputy spokesman Gary Olivar yesterday expressed the Palace’s support for Abcede’s move to sell the Marcos jewelry.

Another auction

Aside from the supposed auctioning of the Marcos jewelry, Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Napoleon Morales yesterday said that they might also put the seized Roumeliotes jewelry up for sale.

Morales said he met with PCGG officials last week and they have agreed that the latter would be bringing in gemologists from Christie’s and Sotheby’s to look at the Roumeliotes jewelry collection.

The Roumeliotes jewelry collection was seized by the bureau from Greek national Demetrius Roumeliotes in March 1986 when the Greek national reportedly tried to smuggle them out of the country two weeks after the Marcos family flew to Hawaii.

Morales clarified that the Roumeliotes jewelry, which are in the custody of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, were not part of the Marcos jewelry.

“We had a meeting with the PCGG last week but the problem was I do not have a budget to invite these internationally known gemologists from Christie’s and Sotheby’s. These are European-based gemologists who are known in the world,” Morales said.

“But the PCGG said they would invite representatives from Christie’s and Sotheby’s to appraise these Roumeliotes jewelry,” Morales said, adding that they are scheduled to arrive next week.

The bureau chief admitted that he does not know the current value of the jewelry.

“We need to get an update and have them appraised again. We do not have the capacity to determine the floor price. We do not have gemologists here,” he added.

The BOC tried twice to auction the expensive ornaments, in 1993 and 2009, but both failed. – With Evelyn Macairan