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Only hooks left at Imelda’s condo: Agents miss Picasso, Pisarro in NBI operation
(Updated 7:57 a.m., Oct. 2) Rare and expensive paintings by various masters were no longer at the condominium unit of former First Lady Imelda Marcos when National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents tried to seize them, GMA News' Kara David reported on 24 Oras Wednesday.
The Sandiganbayan on Monday had ordered the Marcos family to surrender certain pricey paintings, which it said were illegally acquired using taxpayers' money.
The Sandiganbayan on Monday had ordered the Marcos family to surrender certain pricey paintings, which it said were illegally acquired using taxpayers' money.
A picture taken in January this year showed Camille Pisarro painting worth $420,000 and a Pablo Picasso worth $45,100 hanging from the Ilocos Norte congresswoman's residence at the Pacific Plaza Condominium at the Bonifacio Global City.
Another photograph showed two other expensive paintings flanking a bust of Ferdinand Marcos at the residence. Only the hooks remained when NBI agents went to the condominium unit on Tuesday.
Among the artworks that the Sandiganbayan ordered seized were Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child," which was reportedly bought for $3.5 million; a Paul Gauguin worth $1 million; and a $800,000 Francisco de Goya.
"Bago namin na-effect 'yung preliminary attachment, nalaman na nila e. Kung kaya't baka 'yung iba ay naitago na uli," said Presidential Commission on Good Government chairman Andres Bautista.
The agents launched simultaneous searches on Tuesday for eight paintings potentially worth tens of millions of dollars, including works by Picasso, Gauguin, Miro, Michelangelo and Pissarro, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Imelda felt ‘violated’
Former First Lady Imelda Marcos felt "violated" after the NBI agents searched her homes and offices and seized art pieces, her lawyer said on Wednesday, AFP said.
"She felt really violated that this happened. She was really in shock," Marcos' lawyer Robert Sison told AFP.
The PCGG has reported that 144 paintings have been reported as missing since the Marcoses left Malacañang in 1986.
"Bago namin na-effect 'yung preliminary attachment, nalaman na nila e. Kung kaya't baka 'yung iba ay naitago na uli," said Presidential Commission on Good Government chairman Andres Bautista.
The agents launched simultaneous searches on Tuesday for eight paintings potentially worth tens of millions of dollars, including works by Picasso, Gauguin, Miro, Michelangelo and Pissarro, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Imelda felt ‘violated’
Former First Lady Imelda Marcos felt "violated" after the NBI agents searched her homes and offices and seized art pieces, her lawyer said on Wednesday, AFP said.
"She felt really violated that this happened. She was really in shock," Marcos' lawyer Robert Sison told AFP.
The 85-year-old widow of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was asleep in one of her luxury Manila apartments when a team of government agents arrived, announcing they were searching the place, Sison said.
Still recovering from recent eye surgery, she sat "calm and composed" on a wheelchair while the search got underway, he added.
The PCGG has reported that 144 paintings have been reported as missing since the Marcoses left Malacañang in 1986.
Despite failing to recover any painting from the BGC condominium, the NBI managed to seize 15 paintings from the Marcos estate in San Juan. These include three unauthenticated pieces of the "Madonna and Child" painting. —Rie Takumi/NB,GMA News
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