With or without PCGG, sale of Marcos’ ill-gotten assets to continue
Katrina Camille Pena of the Presidential Commission on Good Government holds a set of jewelry from the so-called Hawaii Collection, one of the three sets of the Marcos jewelry, during appraisal by Sotheby’s at the Central Bank of the Philippines on Nov. 27, 2015 in Manila, Philippines. The Hawaii Collection was seized by the US Bureau of Customs upon the Marcos’ arrival in Hawaii in 1986 and is now under the custody of the Philippine Commission on Good Government or PCGG. The appraisal was made to determine its current value which was put at $5 to $7 million dollars in 1988 and 1991.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Even as the government considers to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the Department of Finance will continue to dispose of the Marcoses’ ill-gotten assets once cases are settled, a DOF official said.
“The cases (against the Marcoses) are going to be transferred to the Office of the Solicitor General or the Department of Justice, and the assets are going to be transferred to the Privatization and Management Office. That was and still is the plan,” Finance Undersecretary Karen Singson told reporters yesterday when asked how the possible abolition of the PCGG would affect the sale of late President Marcos’ assets.
“If they abolish [the PCGG], we’re still going to implement it. In fact, it won’t cost too much problems because the PCGG is already part of the Privatization Council, so it’s still going through the DOF,” Singson added. The interagency Privatization Council, chaired by the DOF, gives the go-ahead to all privatization activities, including those of the PCGG.
“It will be the same plan as before, which is the (disposal of) assets, just by a different agency,” Singson said. The DOF-attached PMO will then dispose of the Marcos assets, she said.
In January, Singson said the sale of former First Lady Imelda Marcos’ jewelry collection would be considered when all cases with the PCGG related to the jewelry were settled.
In February last year, the Privatization Council likewise gave its go-ahead to the sale of about P658 million worth of so-called “Hawaii Jewelry” that belonged to the former first lady.
In 2016, the PCGG said three Marcos jewelry collections, so-called Hawaii, Malacañang and Roumeliotes, had been estimated by auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s to be worth at least P1 billion.
The Hawaii collection is composed of about 300 jewelry pieces confiscated by the US customs bureau from the Marcoses when they fled for Hawaii.
The collection includes a 25-carat “extremely rare” pink diamond believed to be previously owned by a Mogul emperor, which was estimated to be worth at least $5 million or around P237 million.
Last month, Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the government was mulling over the abolition of the PCGG under a wider plan to downsize the executive branch.
“There are many specific recommendations for policy actions under the rightsizing bill. One such proposal is to abolish the PCGG and to transfer its remaining activities to the DOJ,” Diokno had said, referring to the Rightsizing the National Government Act of 2017, which is currently pending Congress’ approval.
But Diokno clarified that “it’s still a proposal,” and that there was nothing definitive about it yet.
“The decision will be made by a committee to be chaired by the Executive Secretary as proposed in the law. All decisions by the committee will be in the nature of an executive order to be signed by the President,” Diokno said.
