EDITORIAL - Midnight sale

Perhaps taking its cue from the midnight appointments of the Arroyo administration, the Presidential Commission on Good Government is rushing the sale of jewelry confiscated from the Marcoses. According to reports, the jewels are estimated to be worth more than P15 billion based on an appraisal commissioned by the PCGG in 2005.

Why weren’t the jewels sold after the appraisal? Perhaps PCGG officials were preoccupied with their foreign travels back then, or enjoying the presence of former first lady Imelda Marcos at their birthday parties. Because of numerous controversies, the PCGG was placed under the supervision of the Department of Justice. Now, with less than six weeks left in the Arroyo administration, and the possibility of the next one finally abolishing the PCGG, the commission tasked to go after the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth reportedly wants to sell the jewels ASAP.

PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede, who is competing with Chairman Camilo Sabio in globetrotting at taxpayers’ expense, announced that a representative of Christie’s auction house is arriving tomorrow to look at the Marcos jewels. Abcede said proceeds from any auction would go to the National Treasury. Having only a short time left, Abcede stressed, “is not an excuse to be idle.” It should in fact prod a person, he said, “to hurry and accomplish whatever you can.”

That attitude should have prevailed not in the last two minutes of the Arroyo administration but in the past nine and a half years, or at least since the jewels were appraised in 2005. The last-minute rush to sell the jewels inevitably raises eyebrows, especially when the agency in charge should have been abolished years ago. Christie’s and other international auction houses should be warned that midnight deals in this country tend to become entangled in a protracted legal mess.

As Congress prepares to canvass the votes for president and vice president, the Arroyo administration must prepare for a smooth transfer of power. Like midnight appointments, midnight sales – of the Marcos jewelry or state corporations and other assets – guarantee that the transfer will be anything but smooth.