[LOOK] PCGG launches virtual exhibit of Marcoses’ jewelry

Photo from PCGG Facebook Page

This antique tiara (circa 1860, in a fitted case stamped Carrington) with Cabochon ruby, diamonds and Mabe pearl can finance the college education (tuition for 4 years) of 2000 students in a Philippine state university.

“As important as the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth is the recovery of our honor, our moral values, our sense of integrity as a people.

– Former PCGG Chairman Jovito R. Salonga, Presidential Plunder: The Quest for the Marcos Ill-Gotten Wealth, 2000″

Photo from PCGG Facebook Page

A matching set of antique diamond, sapphire and ruby bracelet, pendant and earrings mounted in silver and gold. Circa 1860, this item bears French marks. It is worth the full immunization of 20,000 children plus 17,600 pneumococcal vaccines to senior citizens and infants.

“Our values and personal convictions dictate the direction that we take and the stand that we make on moral issues that affect our work, in particular, and the country, in general. The desire to make government more effective and efficient in its mandate of good governance is of paramount importance.

– Response of former PCGG Chairperson Haydee B. Yorac, upon receipt of the 2004 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service”

Photo from PCGG Facebook Page

This pearl and diamond set with earclips, brooch and ring in yellow gold is equivalent to the annual income of 15 Filipinos on average.

“On the forfeiture of the monies in the Swiss bank accounts…

Since 1991, when the forfeiture was first filed, up to the present, all respondents have offered are foxy responses like “lack of sufficient knowledge or lack of privity” or “they cannot recall because it happened a long time ago” or, as to Mrs. Marcos, “the funds were lawfully acquired.” But whenever it suits them, they also claim ownership of 90% of the funds and allege that only 10% belongs to the Marcos estate. It has been an incredible charade from beginning to end.

– Republic v. Sandiganbayan, Marcos et. al. (2003)”

Photo from PCGG Facebook Page

Circa 1880, this antique Ceylon sapphire and diamond necklace mounted in silver and gold is signed with VC&A. This could provide electricity to approximately 2,252 households in off-grid areas.

“It is important to note that the Marcos case marks the starting point for the (global) asset recovery agenda. Outside of the Philippines, the efforts of the Commission have been lauded as the among the most important and successful asset recovery cases in the last 20 years”

– Managing Proceeds of Asset Recovery (Basel); No Safe Havens Case Studies by Wolffang Guzman for the World Bank

Photo from PCGG Facebook Page

This Belle Epoque diamond tiara in platinum, circa 1890, bears French metal control marks for platinum, probably by Cartier central diamond. It can fund for the treatment of 12,052 cases of tuberculosis until their full recovery.

“When Martial Law was imposed, what happened to the the law?

And so the law in the land died, I grieve for it but I do not despair over it. I know, with a certainty no argument can turn, no wind can shake, that from its dust will rise a new and better law: more just, more human and more humane. When that will happen, I know not. That it will happen, I know.”

– Jose W. Diokno

Photo from PCGG Facebook Page

This is a brilliant coronet part of the Hawaii Collection that is worth eight classrooms in the Philippines.

The Marcos Jewelry Collection is composed of three (3) separate collections seized from the Marcoses upon fleeing the Philippines: (1) the Malacañang collection, left when the Marcoses fled the Palace; (2) the Hawaii collection, seized by the US Bureau of Customs when the Marcoses’ arrived in Hawaii; and the (3) Roumeliotes collection that Demetriou Roumeliotes, a close friend of Mrs. Marcos, attempted to smuggle out of the country. All Marcos jewelries are currently stored in a highly-secured vault at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

These excess wealth and extravagance are the tangible reminder of the insidious evil of plunder and dictatorship during the Martial Law.

Now, this is our call: To those too young to remember, it is not yet too late to know. To those old enough to have known, it is our responsibility to remember.

We all seek answers and a sense of “closure” that not even the courts, or our recovery efforts or cases can give us. Our dreams for a better country are the foundations upon which the goodness of our government shall be built. It is our main goal as an agency that we work, together with the Filipino people, to once and for all build a government of transparency, integrity, and accountability.