MANILA, Philippines - One of the three jewelry collections seized from the family of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos will be auctioned off.
The Asset Privatization Council has approved for international auction the so-called Hawaii Collection comprising around 300 pieces of jewelry and other luxury items, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said in a statement yesterday.
Seized by US Customs authorities from the Marcoses upon their arrival in Hawaii in 1986, the jewelry collection was later forfeited in favor of the Philippine government through an agreement between former first lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos and the PCGG.
The collection includes an exceedingly rare 25-carat pink diamond, which has been appraised at around $5 million (around P235 million at current exchange rates).
PCGG Chairman Richard Amurao hopes that the Filipino people will finally benefit from the proceeds of the collection.
“The jewelry confiscated from the Marcoses remain a singular manifestation of the misguided priorities of the Marcos presidency,” he said.
Amurao said part of the jewelry collection will be exhibited prior to auction.
“It has been long desired by the PCGG to put the jewelry collection on public display to inform the Filipino people of the excesses of the Marcos dictatorship,” he said.
“The collection is a critical part of the past. We believe that the exhibit of these ill-gotten jewels will be a great vehicle to raise awareness, especially for the younger generation and those who have forgotten, to remind the Filipino people of the perils of the two-decade regime of corruption that was under the Marcoses.”
Jewelry collection worth P1 B
Conservative estimates put the value of the three collections at P1 billion, the PCGG said.
The jewelry collection also includes the so-called Roumeliotes and the Malacañang Collections.
Composed of only around 60 pieces of jewelry, the Roumeliotes collection is deemed as the most expensive among the three.
It was seized from alleged Marcos associate Demetriou Roumeliotes as he tried to smuggle it out of the country.
It was later forfeited in favor of the Bureau of Customs as the attempt to smuggle it out of the country is a violation of the Tariff and Customs Code.
On the other hand, the Malacañang collection consists of over 400 jewelry and other luxury items that were left in the Palace after the People Power Revolution.
In 2014, the Sandiganbayan declared the jewelry collection part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses. The Marcoses are appealing the ruling before the Supreme Court.
Last year, the PCGG invited rival auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s to appraise the jewelry collections.
Estimates submitted by the auction houses showed that collective value of the three collections is at least P1 billion, the PCGG said.
Previous valuation of the three collections, made in the early 1990s, put its value between $6 million to $8 million (P282 million to P376 million in current exchange rates).
“The total estimated value of the thousands of pieces has significantly increased, some items increasing in value tenfold from previous appraisals,” the PCGG said.
“Further gemological testing on significant items is necessary for a more accurate estimate.”
A breakdown of the valuation submitted by the two auction houses has yet to be released.
It will soon release further details with regard to the plan to exhibit and auction the collection under its custody, the PCGG said.