THE price of the gold and diamonds which the government sequestered from the Marcos family 36 years ago had just been devalued, as per documents obtained from the Presidential Commission on Good Government. From P1.03 billion in 2019 and 2020, the assigned value of two Marcos jewelry collections in the books of the PCGG dropped by a whopping 67 percent — and is down to just P340.23 million as of yearend 2021.
The PCGG’s 2021 financial statements identified the collections as the Hawaii Jewelry Collection and the Malacañang Jewelry Collection recorded under “confiscated property/assets.”
Also included under the same account are various firearms with a total appraised value of P281,132.59. Both jewelry collections were previously owned by former First Lady Imelda Marcos, mother of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and Senator Imee Marcos.
A third collection of Marcos jewelry, the so-called Roumeliotes Collection, which was seized by the Bureau of Customs from American national Demetriou Roumeliotes at the Manila International Airport in 1986 was not mentioned in the audit report.
All three collections are kept in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for safekeeping. The 2019 PCGG financial statements showed the confiscated property/assets account held P1,030,010,377.45 with comparative figures for 2018 showing exactly the same figure.
In the 2020 financial statements, again the same figure was jotted down opposite the confiscated property/assets account. But in the most recent audit of the PCGG, the value of the same entry dropped to P340,228,086.38.
The financial statement offered this explanation: “The significant decrease in Confiscated Property/ Assets account was due to the adjustments in recording of the latest appraised value of Hawaii Jewelry Collection amounting to P892,509,675.64 which was entered twice in the books.”
But a close reading of the records showed the steep drop in valuation was caused by the listing of the Hawaii Collection at only P137, 500,701.81 based on a 1991 appraisal instead of the more recent appraisal figures from world leading auctioneers.
LATEST APPRAISALS
In the 2019, 2020, and 2021 financial statements it was already noted that international auction house Christie’s had made an appraisal of both the Hawaii Collection and Malacañang Collection and submitted a report dated December 15, 2015.
After examining 406 pieces belonging to the Hawaii Collection, it set the value of the jewelry between $10.922 million to $18.664 million. The PCGG computed the average between the high and low appraisal figures at $14.793 million or P699.922 million based on the prevailing exchange rate at the time of $1 : P47.305. On the other hand, examination of 215 pieces from the Malacañang Collection yielded an appraisal of $4.651 million to $8.981 million ($6.816 million average or P322.432 million).
Sotheby’s likewise conducted its own appraisal of both collections and submitted a report on January 13, 2016. It examined 376 pieces from the Hawaii collections and set their value at between $17.24 million to $28.621 million. The PCGG recorded the average at $22.93 million with a peso equivalent of P1.085 billion (at prevailing exchange rate of $1 : P47.325) From checking 199 pieces of the Malacañang Collection, it submitted at appraisal of $1.38 million to $2.097 million ($1.739 million average or P82.277 million). RECOVERY HISTORY Of the three Marcos jewelry collections, only the Malacañang was won by the government in 2013 after a 27-year court battle with the Marcos family. It was also the smallest and least valuable.
“The Malacañang Jewelry Collection was seized from Malacañang after February 25, 1986 and was transferred to Central Bank on March 1, 1986,” the COA noted.
On the other hand, the Hawaii Collection consists of jewelry sets and unset stones discovered by United States Customs Services among the bags and luggage of the Marcos family when they fled to Hawaii in 1986.
“The Hawaii Jewelry Collection was seized by the United States Customs Service and turned over to the Philippine Government through the US Hawaii District Court ruling on December 18, 1992, that the Republic of the Philippines is entitled to the possession and control of the said collection,” the COA said. It added that the said collection was “ceded by Imelda R. Marcos to the Republic in exchange for the withdrawal of specific lawsuits against her.”
