COA: Seized Marcos jewels still unrecorded

MANILA, Philippines - More than 31 years after it was confiscated, the Marcoses’ Roumeliotes jewelry collection remains unrecorded in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) books of accounts, the Commission on Audit (COA) reported.

It also found at least $1 million in cash, part of the amount recovered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in 2003 from the Marcos family’s Swiss foundations, missing from the Bureau of Treasury.

In the annual audit report published on its website, COA said the Roumeliotes collection confiscated on March 9, 1986 from Demetriou Roumeliotes remains unrecorded in the BOC books of accounts as of Dec. 31, 2016. 

The BOC seized the collection after Roumeliotes, a Greek-American businessman and friend of the Marcoses, tried to smuggle it out of the country through the Manila International Airport.

Although the Roumeliotes jewelry are being kept in a vault at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and several appraisals were already made, no report was ever submitted to the BOC, thus the collection was not recorded in its books of accounts.

“Verification disclosed that the Appraisal Report for the confiscated jewelry has not been submitted from the time these were confiscated until Dec. 31, 2016,” the report read. 

“The non-submission of Appraisal Report for Roumeliotes Jewelry Collection at appraised value on the date of establishment of ownership resulted in non-recording in the books of accounts, thereby understating the assets and equity accounts and consequently, exposed these assets to possible risk of loss,” it added.

The COA said an inquiry with PCGG also revealed that the same collection was not recorded in its own books.

It pointed out that a 1988 appraisal set the value of the Roumeliotes collection, composed of 60 pieces of jewelry and loose gemstones, at a high of $5.315 million and low of $3.846 million. International auctioneers Sotheby’s and Christie’s also made their respective inventory and appraisals in November 2015.

The Roumeliotes collection is deemed the most expensive among the three alleged ill-gotten jewelry collections of the Marcoses. COA recommended that the BOC-Ninoy Aquino International Airport secure copies of the appraisal reports and submit these to the chief accountant to be properly recorded.

The second collection, the Hawaii collection, was discovered by US customs officials hidden in baby diaper boxes when the Marcos family arrived in Hawaii in February 1986. The third collection, composed of trinkets and semi-precious stones, was left in Malacañang.

Missing cash

Meanwhile, a separate audit report on the Bureau of Treasury-National Government showed that $1 million in cash – part of the amount recovered by the PCGG in 2003 from the Marcos family’s Swiss dollar accounts – is missing.

COA records show that in June 2012, the PCGG remitted $10 million (P422.83 million) to the Treasury, which set aside 10 percent or $1 million (P42.283 million) to cover the PCGG’s expenses in accordance with the General Appropriations Act of 2012.