Moreno vows to sell Imelda’s art collection, jewelry

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Isko Moreno has promised to sell the paintings and jewelry seized from the Marcoses if elected president on May 9.

In a Radyo Singko interview yesterday, Moreno vowed to sell the seized jewelry and prized paintings of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s wife Imelda.

“What matters most is we could collect these assets and sell these to fund the state,” Moreno said in Filipino.

In 2014, the following paintings were ordered seized from Imelda’s San Juan residence in relation to the civil forfeiture case before the Sandiganbayan: “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.

Imelda is believed to have acquired at least 200 prized paintings during the conjugal dictatorship.

Other illegally acquired paintings by Monet, Alfred Sisley and Albert Marquet have been auctioned abroad.

Some 156 paintings remain missing, including those by Matisse, Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Commission on Good Government put up for auction an estimated P1 billion worth of jewelry seized from Imelda following the Marcos dictatorship’s downfall – a facetted emerald drop, diamonds and pearl brooch and earrings in white gold; golden south sea pearl and diamond necklace; and matching earclips in 18 cts. yellow gold; antique diamond and pearl tiara mounted in silver and gold; heart-shaped cabochon ruby weighing approximately 25-30 cts. with diamond and white gold surround; set of black star sapphires and diamonds consisting of brooch, ring and earrings in white gold; a matching set of antique diamond, sapphire and ruby bracelet, pendant and earrings mounted in silver and gold; pearl and diamond set with earclips, brooch and ring in yellow gold; antique Ceylon sapphire and diamond necklace mounted in silver and gold; brilliant baguette and oval cut diamond coronet in white gold, with comb and 150.01-carat large cabochon ruby oval and diamond brooch mounted in yellow gold.

“If you remember, these diamonds, assets seized from them, are just sleeping at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas vault. They have a Picasso painting worth $200 million. We can sell these, because there is no use for it if it is just stored in the government vault without benefitting the people,” Moreno said in Filipino.

Imelda was convicted by the Sandiganbayan in 2018 for graft for creating offshore Swiss accounts to stow away the family loot.

Meanwhile, Aksyon Demokratiko chairman Ernest Ramel on Monday wrote to the Bureau of Internal Revenue for a copy of their demand letter to the Marcos heirs to pay the government their P203.8-billion tax debt on the estate of the late dictator.

“This is considered a public document imbued with much public interest and we see no impediment for the release of said letter,” Ramel wrote.

Moreno promised to collect the Marcoses’ tax debt and allot it for social services.

At a press briefing yesterday, Moreno’s campaign manager Lito Banayo also urged Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to help recover the Marcoses’ tax debt.

Dominguez is an original member of the PDP-Laban, according to Banayo.