No paintings recovered in Marcos museum raid

MANILA, Philippines - Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided yesterday the museum of the Marcos family in Batac City, Ilocos Norte to search for eight paintings ordered seized by the Sandiganbayan as part of the family’s ill-gotten wealth.

However, the operation of the NBI men who were tapped by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) yielded negative results, according to the bureau’s Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division (AOTCD) head agent Rommel Vallejo.

Vallejo said their agents arrived at the museum at around 10 a.m. as part of the continuing hunt for the expensive paintings following the seizure of 15 “minor” paintings from the Marcos residence in San Juan City last Tuesday.

But the NBI official said they only found portraits of the Marcos family inside the property after an hour’s search.

The congressional staff of Ilocos Norte second district Rep. Imelda Marcos witnessed the raid, Vallejo added.

The operation stemmed from an order of the Sandiganbayan last week for the confiscation of eight paintings said to be part of the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth.

Subject of the order were LaBaignade Au Grand Temps by Pierre Bonnard, Madonna and Child by Michelangelo Buonarroti, Vase of Red Chrysanthemums by Bernard Buffet, Still Life with Idol by Paul Gauguin, Portrait of the Marqueza de Sta. Cruz by Francisco de Goya, L’Aube by Joan Miro, Femme Couche VI (Reclining Woman VI) by Pablo Picasso and Jardin de Kew pres de la Serre 1892 by Camille Pissarro.

Last Tuesday, the NBI and PCGG seized 15 paintings from the Marcos family’s San Juan City residence in compliance with an order from the Sandiganbayan.

The 15 paintings in the writ of preliminary attachment issued by the Sandiganbayan were just a few of the 150 paintings the PCGG is searching for, Chairman Andres Bautista said.

But some of the paintings confiscated were supposedly reproductions, according to the PCGG.

The PCGG said the acquisition cost of 11 paintings was estimated at $7,015,400 and one masterpiece was valued at 8,000 pounds. The masterpieces were acquired between 1965 and 1986.

The agency said it would tap the international auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s to assess the value and authenticity of the artworks seized from the Marcos family last Tuesday.

Authorities warned that buyers of the paintings included in the writ of attachments issued by the Sandiganbayan against the Marcos family could be charged with qualified theft.

The Marcos family, for their part, vowed to question the seizure in court. They plan to either appeal the Sandiganbayan order or question it before the Supreme Court. – With Charlie Lagasca