Ex-Imelda aide charged

NEW YORK – A former secretary to Imelda Marcos was charged Tuesday with conspiracy to sell valuable artworks that disappeared during the collapse of the Marcos regime.

Vilma Bautista, 74, was indicted on charges of conspiracy, tax fraud and offering a false instrument for filing. Two of her nephews, Chaiyot Jansen Navalaksana and Pongsak Navalaksana, were also charged.

Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Cyrus Vance Jr. said Bautista used false paperwork to sell a work from Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” series for $32 million in September 2010.

“The integrity of the international art market must be protected,” Vance said in a statement. “This indictment sheds light on what happened to major works of art missing for more than 25 years.”

The Monet art was part of Mrs. Marcos’ hoard of artworks and other luxuries accumulated during her husband’s rule, which was brought down in 1986.

“A significant amount of artwork and other valuables disappeared from Philippine government property, including from the Philippine consulate townhouse in Manhattan,” the DA’s office said. Beginning in 2009, Bautista and her two nephews allegedly began trying to sell the Monet art and three other valuable works that the Philippine government was trying to repossess. Prosecutors said Bautista and her nephews plotted to sell the paintings and keep the proceeds tax-free. – AP,Rainier Allan Ronda