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Pinoys may finally get a glimpse of Imelda's jewelry collection
Imelda Marcos' shoes were what put her on the extravagance map. But it's her jewel collection, including earrings made of rare emeralds that even Christie's had difficulty appraising, that truly made her different from you and me.
Now contemporary Filipinos will finally be able to behold the sparkling proof of Imeldific excess. That is, if the Presidential Commission on Good Government makes good its expressed intent to exhibit some 400 pieces of jewelry confiscated by the government in 1986 after the Marcos family fled the country. The PCGG estimates the value of the jewlery at between US$6-8 million.
The PCGG plans to exhibit the jewelry as a reminder of the abuses of the dictatorship. "Sabi niyo nga, ito'y isang mekanismo ng pagpapaalala sa ating mga mamamayan kung ano ang nangyayari kung ang pera ng bayan ay nilulustay. Wala po kaming planong isubasta ngayon. Ang gusto lang po namin ay magkaroon ng exhibit," PCGG chairman Andres Bautista told GMA News analyst Winnie Monsod in a telephone interview on Unang Balita on Thursday.
The jewels are part of the Hawaii collection, which was confiscated at the Honolulu International Airport where the Marcoses landed after they fled the Philippines at the height of the 1986 People Power revolution.
According to Bautista, the collection is worth $6-8 million dollars, based on an appraisal done by Christie's in 2000.
Imelda's diamond and blue sapphire bow brooch. 7 carats of sapphires & 46.5.cts. diamonds total. Item #35 on Bureau of Customs list of items in the Roumeliotes Collection.
Of the three jewelry collections, only the Malacañang collection has a pending case at the Sandiganbayan Special Division.
"'Yun pong Malacañang collection which is the least expensive of the three, 'yan ang mayroon pang kaso sa Sandiganbayan. Pero 'yung dalawa wala nang kaso," Bautista said, referring to the Hawaii collection and the Roumeliotes collection, seized from Greek national Demetriou Roumeliotes on March 1, 1986 at the Manila International Airport as he was about to fly abroad.
Asked if the jewels will be displayed in a permanent exhibit, Bautista said it will be up to the country's political leaders. "Ang gusto lang namin ngayon, kasi ang tagal tagal na, 27 taon na ang nakalipas, hindi pa rin nakikita ng taong bayan kung ano ang mga alahas," he said.
Bautista said they made an inventory of the jewels in 2010, taking photos and documenting the pieces in a catalog.
"Kung may kulang diyan, hindi pa namin sigurado. Ang hinahanap namin 'yung baseline document noong 1986, kung kailan man nakuha itong alahas na ito," Bautista said.
While the PCGG has yet to determine if all the jewels are accounted for, Bautista said the collection includes small trinkets as well as larger, beautiful pieces.
"Marami pang alahas, marami pang mga piyesa na talagang magagandang alahas," he said.
This piece from the Roumeliotes Collection was estimated at approximately just over 100 carats of yellow (canary) and pinkish diamonds of various shapes, sizes and cuts.
Jewels on display to attract tourists, recall abuses
This is not the first time PCGG planned to exhibit the jewels.
"In the course of 26 years I have heard this many times," Diana Limjoco, who was asked by PCGG in 1986 to photograph and document the jewels, wrote in 2012.
Last year, PCGG planned to put the jewels on display in order to attract tourists.
The plan to exhibit the jewels, which are kept at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, came about in 2011 when PCGG was celebrating its 25th anniversary, according to PCGG Commissioner Maita Chan-Gonzaga.
"Due to time constraints and certain issues that had to be threshed out, we were not able to mount the exhibit," Gonzaga said on State of the Nation last September.
Meanwhile, Monsod said the jewels serve to remind Filipinos of the abuses of political leaders, both then and now.
"Nagnanakaw sila sa atin. Ang importante diyan is even now nangyayari 'yon. Ang dadaming dinastiya na andidito na longer than the time Marcos and his family, and his wife was in power. Twenty years sila, may mga dinastiya dito na ang tagal tagal na andiyadiyan pa din," said Monsod, who cited research that showed the net worth of political leaders in these so-called dynasties are more than the net worth of political leaders who are not part of these so-called dynasties.
"This is a very good reminder to us that we cannot afford to have that kind of situation here," Monsod said. Marcos family: auction would be a different matter The Marcos family did not have anything against putting the jewelry collection in a museum, but said putting them on auction would be a different matter, GMA News' Sherrie Ann Torres said in a report on State of the Nation in 2012. GMA News Online tried contacting the Marcoses on Thursday about this planned exhibit but the family has not yet issued a statement. —Carmela G. Lapeña/KG/HS, GMA News Photos by Diana J. Limjoco
