SC affirms forfeiture of Marcoses' Malacañang jewelry collection

MANILA- The Supreme Court has affirmed a Sandiganbayan ruling in June 2014 in favor of the forfeiture of the so-called Malacañang Jewelry collection (Malacañang Collection) of the Marcos family.

In a 21-page decision dated January 18, 2016, penned by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, the high court ruled that it found "no reversible error in the ruling of the Sandiganbayan" over the seized jewelry collection, one of three forfeited collections, seized from the presidential palace after the 1986 People Power Revolution, and transferred to the Central Bank on March 1, 1986.

The anti-graft court issued a Partial Summary Judgment on January 13, 2014 and a resolution for the forfeiture of the collection on June 11, 2014, through a Special Division.

The high court said the Sandiganbayan was correct to grant the forfeiture in favor of government.

"[T]he Sandiganbayan correctly held that the forfeiture was justified and that the Malacañang Collection was subject to forfeiture.

"We reiterate what we have already stated in Republic vs Sandiganbayan, and subsequently in Marcos vs Republic, that 'whenever ang public officer or employee has acquired during his incumbency an amount of property which is manifestly out of proportion to his salary.... said property shall be presumed prima facie to be unlawfully acquired," the SC said.

Based on a 1991 valuation of auction house Christie, Manson and Woods Intl., Inc., the subject collection was US $110,055 to US $153,089.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Gov't OKs sale of multi-million Marcos jewelry collection

The privatization and management office has approved the sale of a controversial Marcos jewelry collection.

Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, chair of the Private Management Office said the sale of the so-called Hawaii collection will proceed as planned after the Marcos family voluntarily relinquished ownership of the jewelry set.

Beltran said proceeds from the sale will go to the Bureau of Treasury and Presidential Commission on Good Government.

The Hawaii collection includes a rare 25-carat barrel-shaped pink diamond, and was among those appraised by Christie's and rival Sotheby's in November last year.

It could be recalled that the pink diamond was initially valued at $5 million.

"Some of the pieces are so important, so magnificent. There's a very wide variety of pieces - antique to modern, which is again what you would see in a current day royal collection - things that fit every occasion. So if you put me in there to value the jewelry and I had no knowledge of where it came from, I would say this feels like a royal collection," David Warren, director of jewelry at London-based Christie's, had said in the November report.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com