Philippines to sell Imelda Marcos’ jewellery valued at $21 million
The Philippine government has approved the public exhibit and auction of the jewellery collection of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ widow Imelda which international experts have appraised to be now worth at least 1 billion pesos ($21 million), officials said Monday.
The hoard was seized when Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii in 1986 following a popular revolt that ended his two decades in power. They include a 25-carat, barrel-shaped diamond worth at least $5 million and a Cartier diamond tiara that is now many times more valuable than the previous estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.
Andrew de Castro of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, an agency tasked to recover the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth, said they hope to hold the exhibit and auction before the end of President Benigno Aquino’s term in June, when the terms for the current members of the commission also end.
The government’s Privatisation Council headed by the Department of Finance last week approved the sale of the jewellery. A portion of the collection seized at the presidential palace when the Marcoses fled, however, is still being contested in court. Other pieces of jewellery were seized in Hawaii and at Manila’s airport.
“The jewellery confiscated from the Marcoses remain a singular manifestation of the misguided priorities of the Marcos presidency during his reign,” commission Chairman Richard Amurao said Friday.
