MANILA, Philippines–Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos on Wednesday questioned the Sandiganbayan’s order to seize eight prized paintings from the family’s San Juan residence, as she decried the use of threats and force in the implementation of the order.
In a motion filed before the Sandiganbayan, Marcos appealed to the court to issue a stay order deferring the implementation of the seizure order. She asked the court to have the seized paintings returned.
The antigraft court’s special division had ordered the seizure of the paintings and their transfer to the custody of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
This seizure order was related to the civil forfeiture case filed against Marcos and her heirs.
Subject to the seizure are the following paintings:
– 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
– Jardin de Kew pres de la Serre 1892 by Camille Pissarro
Marcos’ lawyers had questioned the order to seize the eight paintings since they claimed that they were not included in a forfeiture case that the government had filed against the Marcoses.
Operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation and the PCGG had also raided the Marcos Museum in Batac City, Ilocos Norte, but failed to find the expensive paintings.
Last month, the court ordered the forfeiture of the Marcoses’ Arelma assets deposited in New York, whose amount had ballooned to $40 million due to incurred interests since 1972.
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MANILA, Philippines—This is a list of art pieces believed to have been purchased by former first lady Imelda Marcos during the martial law years. The list of paintings, many of them by European masters and worth millions of dollars each, was attached to a petition for writ of execution and turnover filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York by the lawyers of the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship.
The victims are claimants in a case versus the Marcos estate, and who have won a judgment in 1995 and been awarded $2 billion in damages.
French impressionist Claude Monet’s painting “Water Lilies” ** had been illegally sold to a collector by Mrs. Marcos’ aid, Vilma Bautista, her coaccused for $32 million, but the buyer avoided litigation by paying $10 million which the claimants received in March. Two more—another painting by Monet (48) * and one by Alfred Sisley (7) *—could soon be recovered.
The list is the result of research and investigative work done by the claimants’ lawyers led by Robert Swift. The list has the artists’ names, titles of the paintings, medium used and size. The list may not be complete. Images of most of the masterpieces can be viewed on the Internet.
ARTIST NAME PAINTING TITLE PAINTING
1 Abraham Janssens “Peace and Abundance Binding the Arrows of War, aka Peace and Plenty Binding the Arrows of War” Oil on canvas, 150x118cm
2 Alessandro Botticelli “Madonna and Child” Tempera on panel, 37x29cm
3 Alessandro Magnasco “Christ Heals the Cripple” Oil on canvas, 93.5×70.5cm
4 Alessandro Magnasco
St. Jerome
Oil on canvas, 73×58.5cm
5 Alessandro Magnasco
Mother with Child
Oil on canvas, 40x30cm
6 Alessandro Magnasco
Couple of Farmers with Children
Oil on canvas, 40x30cm
7 Alfred Sisley
Langland Bay, 1887 *
8 Amedeo Modigliani
Jeanne Hebuterne
Oil on canvas, 51×22.25cm
9 Amico Di Sandro
Virgin and Child
Tempera on
panel, 58x58cm
10 Andrea Della Robbia
Madonna and Child
Terracotta relief, 40.5x23cm
(including frame)
11 Andrea Di Bodiaiuto
Enthroned Madonna
Surrounded by Saints
Tempera on panel, 66x67cm
12 Andrea Di Niccolo
St. Agostino
Tempera on panel, 161x54cm
13 Andrea Di Niccolo
St. Biagio
Tempera on
panel, 161x54cm
14 Andrew Wyeth
Moon Madness
15-32 Anna Mary Robertson Moses, aka Grandma Moses
Total of 18 pieces
33 Antonio Giovanni Canaletto
La Piazetta of Saint Marcus Square
Oil on canvas, 66x104cm
34 Antonio Giovanni Canaletto Padua Landscape
with Prato Della Valle
Oil on canvas, 42×85.5cm
35 Antonio Giovanni Canaletto
View of the Grand Canal in Front of Saint Marcus Square with the Doggia Palace
Oil on canvas, 66x104cm
36 Antonio Giovanni Canaletto
The San Marco Basin with the Island of San Giorgio
Oil on canvas, 61x99cm
37 Antonio Giovanni Canaletto
The Departure of the
Bucentaur on Ascension
Oil on canvas, 44x73cm
38 Antonio Giovanni Canaletto
Portico of a Venetian Palace
Oil on canvas, 128x93cm
39 Antonio Giovanni Canaletto
The Grand Canal with the
Rialto Bridge
Oil on canvas, 63x88cm
40 Barent Avercamp
Winter Pleasures with a Horse- Drawn Sleigh near Kampen
Oil on panel, 12×21
41 Benvenuto Di Giovanni
The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Tempera on
panel, 97×58
42 Bernardino Funagai
Resurrection with Two
Angels
Tempera on
panel, 42×62
43 Bonnard Pierre
Baignard Au Grand-Lemps,
1899
14.5×17
44 Camille Pissarro
Jardin de Kew Pres Dela Serre
21.25×25.5
45 Casper Netscher
Young Woman with a Parrot
Oil on panel, 34x27cm
46 Claude Monet
Rain, aka La Pluie
Oil on canvas, 24×29
47 Claude Monet
Le Bassin aux Nymphease **
aka Japanese Footbridge Over the Water-Lily Pond at Giverny
or Water Lilies
48 Claude Monet
L’Eglise et La Seine a Vetheuil * aka L’Eglise a Vetheuil
Oil on canvas, 23×28.5
49 David Teniers the Younger
A Rugged Hilly Landscape with Elegant Figures and Monks at a Grotto
Oil on canvas, 163x229cm
50 Dirk Hals
Interior with Musicians and Backgammon Players, 1628
Oil on panel, 30.13×53.75
51 Edgar Degas
Danseuse S’habillant
Pastel, 25.5×18.5
52 Edgar Degas
Trois Danseuses
Mixed media,
37.5×31.75
53 Edgar Degas
Le Petit Dejeuner a la Sortie
du Bain
Pastel, 121x92cm
54 Edouard Manet
Mary Laurent a la Violette, 1878
Pastel on linen, 22×14
55 El Greco
Coronation of the Virgin
56 Filippino Lippi
St. Julian and the Martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria
Tempera on panel, 13.5x18cm
57 Fra Filippo Lippi
Madonna and Child, 1460
Oil on panel, 20×12
58 Francesco Guardi
Imaginary View with Marine Life, Building and Arch of
Triumph
Oil on canvas, 35x49cm
59 Francesco Guardi
Piazza San Marco
Oil on canvas, 51x94cm
60 Francesco Guardi
Parade of Allegoric Floats
in the Piazza San Marco
Oil on canvas, 67.5×91.5cm
61 Francesco Guardi
Caprice with Small Bay in
a Lagoon
Oil on canvas, 43×56.5cm
62 Francesco Guardi
Inside a Harem
Oil on canvas, 44x61cm
63 Francesco Guardi
Capricio
Oil on canvas, 10x18cm
64 Francesco Guardi
Triumph of a Roman Warrior
Oil on canvas, 70.5x52cm
65 Francesco Guardi
Basin of San Marco
Oil on canvas, 18x32cm
66 Francesco and
Antonio Guardi
At the Drinking Trough
Oil on canvas, 85x113cm
67 Francesco Zuccarelli
Landscape with Shepherd
Oil on canvas, 56x74cm
68 Francesco Zuccarelli
Landscape with Shepherdess
Oil on canvas, 56x74cm
69 Francesco Zuccarelli
Hillside Landscape
Oil on canvas, 78x118cm
70 Francesco Zuccarelli
Landscape
Oil on canvas, 64x83cm
71 Francesco Zugno
Death of Cleopatra
Oil on canvas, 120x87cm
72 Francesco Zugno
Meeting of Rinaldo and
Armida
Oil on canvas, 116x86cm
73 Francis Bacon
Self Portrait, 1963
Oil on canvas, 165x145cm
74 Francis Bacon
Masturbation
75 Francisco Goya
La Marqueza de Sta. Cruz
Oil on canvas, 49.75×81.75
76 Francisco de Zurbaran
The Holy Family
32.75×24
77 Francisco de Zurbaran
David and Goliath
78 Francois Boucher
The Apotheosis of Aeneas, 1747
79 Francois Boucher
L’Aube 17.5×10
80 Frans Hals
Portrait of a Young Man
Oil on canvas, 65x49cm
81 Frans Hals
Portrait of a Young Woman
82 Friend of Piero della Francesca
Saving of Napoleone Orsini Fallen from a Rock
Tempera on
panel, 38x68cm
83 Gerrit von Honthorst
The Seduction
Oil on canvas, 41.75×54.38
84 Gaspare Diziani
Heracles, Deianeira and the Centaur Nessus
Oil on canvas, 78x98cm
85 Giacomo Amigoni
Bacchanal
Oil on canvas, 64x82cm
86 Gianantonio Guardi
Temperance
Oil on canvas, 155x122cm
87 Gianantonio Guardi
The Fortress
Oil on canvas, 155x122cm
88 Giandomenico Tiepolo
The Minuet
Oil on canvas, 79x109cm
89 Giandomenico Tiepolo
Bust of Bearded Oriental Man with Turban
Oil on canvas, 72x54cm
90 Giandomenico Tiepolo
Bust of Bearded Oriental Man
Oil on canvas, 65x45cm
91 Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio
Madonna with Child
Oil on panel, 40x30cm
92 Giovanni Battista Crosato
Salome
Oil on canvas, 63x108cm
93 Giovanni Battista
Piazzetta
Greedy Child and Miserly Old Woman
Oil on canvas, 45x38cm
94 Giovanni Battista
Pittoni
Holy Family
Oil on canvas, 38x49cm
95 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Portrait of a Bearded Man
Oil on canvas, 48.2x38cm
96 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Madonna with Child Among St. Anthony, St. Francis and St. Ludwig of Toulouse
Oil on canvas, 51×31.5cm
97 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Portrait of a Young Man
Oil on canvas, 48.2x38cm
98 Giovanni Bellini
Madonna with Child
Oil on panel, 75×57.5
99 Giuseppe Zais
Open-Air Minuet
Oil on canvas, 122x145cm
100 Giuseppe Zais
Large Landscape with Figures
Oil on canvas, 280x372cm
101 Giuseppe Zais
Landscape
Oil on canvas, 71.5x85cm
102 Giuseppe Zais
Landscape with Figures and Small Bridge
Oil on canvas, 46x60cm
103 Henry Fantin Latour
Sweet Peas, 1888 24×20.5 with
antique frame
104 Henry Fantin Latour
Roses Tremieres, aka
Hollyhocks
Oil on canvas, 28.5×23.25
105 Henri Matisse
Head of a Woman Oil on canvas, 25.5×19.25
106 J.B. LePrince
Rustic Cottages with Figures,
1700s
107 Jacobo Del Sallaio
Nativity
Tempera on
panel, 78x45cm
108 Jacopo Robusti, II
Tintoretto
Miraculous Catch, aka
Miraculous Drought of Fishes
Oil on canvas, 93x101cm
109 Jacopo Robusti, II
Tintoretto
The Wise Men at the Temple, aka Christ Among Doctors
Oil on canvas, 43x101cm
110 Jan Brueghel the Younger
Allegory of Venus at the Forge of Bulcan
Oil on panel, 16.5×28.38
111 Jan Brueghel the Younger
Allegory of Earth with Flora Surrounding Putti and Satyr
Oil on panel, 16.5×28.38
112 Jan Cossiers
Jesus Crucifies
Oil
113 Jan Greffier
Extensive Winter Landscape Skaters and Village
Oil on panel, 14×19
114 Jan Steen
Merry Making in a Dutch
Garden
Oil on panel, 25×18.5
115 Jan van Bylert
A Musician
Oil on canvas, 39×33
116 Leandro Bassano
Deposition
Oil on canvas, 52x34cm
117 Leandro Bassano
Interior of a Farmhouse
Oil on canvas, 97x132cm
118 Lippo Memmi
Altarpiece of Five Saints
Tempera on panel, 220x200cm
119 Luca Carlevaris
Piazza San Marino: Looking Toward the Procuratorate Oil on canvas, 63x37cm
120 Marcellus Koffermans
Glorification of the Virgin, 1559 Oil on panel, 48×48
121 Marco Ricci
Tempest
Oil on canvas, 100x114cm
122 Maurice Utrillo
La Maison Blanche
Oil on canvas, 25.63×23.5
123 Michele Marieschi
Landscape with Village
Oil on canvas, 73x97cm
124 Michele Marieschi
Imaginary Landscape
Oil on canvas, 73x97cm
125 Neri Di Bicca
Large Majesty
Tempera on panel, 190x117cm
126 Pablo Picasso
Head of a Woman, 1954 Oil on canvas, 65x54cm
127 Pablo Picasso
Fruit Dish, Bottle and Guitar,
1914 Oil on canvas, 92x73cm
128 Pablo Picasso
Reclining Woman
129 Pablo Veronese
The City of Venice Adoring the Christ Child
Oil on canvas, 39.75×55.75
130 Paul Cezanne
Landscape, Aix-en-Provence
Oil on canvas, 18.3×21.7
131 Paul Gauguin
Still Life with Idol
Oil on canvas, 18.25×15
132 Paul Gauguin
Fruits
133 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme Au Piano
Oil on canvas, 21.5×18
134 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme En Rouge
Oil on canvas, 22×18
135 Paule Gobillard
Paysage Du Midi
Oil on canvas, 15×18
136 Paule Gobillard
Panier de Poires
Oil on canvas, 15×18.25
137 Paule Gobillard
Cope de Fleurs
Oil on canvas, 15×18.25
138 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme a la Robe Rouge
Oil on canvas, 21.5×18.5
139 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme Au Chapeu
Oil on canvas, 21.75×18
140 Paule Gobillard
Lecture Au Jardin
Oil on canvas, 16×21.5
141 Paule Gobillard
Vase de Fleurs
Oil on canvas, 22×18
142 Paule Gobillard
La Visite
Oil on canvas, 19.5×24
143 Paule Gobillard
Vase de Fleurs
Oil on canvas, 16.25×13.25
144 Paule Gobillard
Nu Endormi
Oil on canvas, 21.5×25.5
145 Paule Gobillard
Vase de Fleurs
Oil on canvas, 14.25×12.5
146 Paule Gobillard
Vase de Fleurs
Oil on canvas, 15×13
147 Paule Gobillard
Nature Morte
Oil on canvas, 6×8
148 Paule Gobillard
Portrait de Petite Fille
Oil on canvas, 25.5×21
149 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme S’habillant
Oil on canvas, 26×21.5
150 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme Au Chignon
Oil on canvas, 29×23.75
151 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme a la Robe Rose
Oil on canvas, 32×25.5
152 Paule Gobillard
La Conversation
Oil on canvas, 25.5×32
153 Paule Gobillard
La Contre
Oil on canvas, 18×15
154 Paule Gobillard
Bord De Mer
Oil on canvas, 9.75×13.25
155 Paule Gobillard
Vue D’ Assise
Oil on canvas, 15×18
156 Paule Gobillard
Le Blesmil
Oil on canvas, 18×15
157 Paule Gobillard
Roses Tremieres Au Mesmil
Oil on canvas, 15×18
158 Paule Gobillard
Paysage du Midi
Oil on canvas, 15×18.25
159 Paule Gobillard
Paysage
Oil on canvas, 18×15
160 Paule Gobillard
Portrait de Femme A
L’eventuil
Oil on canvas, 18×13
161 Paule Gobillard
Femme a la Rose
Oil on canvas, 16.25×13.25
162 Paule Gobillard
Mme. Valery a Dinard
Oil on canvas, 16.25×13
163 Paule Gobillard
Bord De Mer
Oil on canvas, 13×16.5
164 Paule Gobillard
Clairs Matin Aux Bruyeres
Oil on canvas, 16.5×10.5
165 Paule Gobillard
Paysage
Oil on canvas, 10.75×14
166 Paule Gobillard
La Tonelle
Oil on canvas, 11×14
167 Paule Gobillard
Vase de Fleurs
Oil on canvas, 11.5×14
168 Paule Gobillard
Le Trois Pommes
Oil on canvas, 9.5×13
169 Paule Gobillard
An Salon
Oil on canvas, 36×23.5
170 Paule Gobillard
Nature Morte
Oil on canvas, 18×21.75
171 Paule Gobillard
Fleurs et Fruits
Oil on canvas
172 Paule Gobillard
La Tasse De The
Oil on canvas, 28.5×23.5
173 Paule Gobillard
Vase de Fleurs
Oil on canvas, 25.5×21
174 Paule Gobillard
Le Dernier Essayage
Oil on canvas, 39×38
175 Paule Gobillard
Jeune Femme Tricotant Pres d’Une Fenetre
Oil on canvas, 18×21.5
176 Paule Gobillard
Nu Se Coiffant
Oil on canvas, 24×19.5
177 Paule Gobillard
Femme Au Chapeau
Oil on canvas, 13×19.5
178 Paule Gobillard
“Paysage de Cagnes”
Oil on canvas, 15×18.5
179 Paule Gobillard
“Le Jardin Fleur”
Oil on canvas, 13.5×18
180 Paule Gobillard
“Le Liameau”
Oil on canvas, 13.5×18
181 Paule Gobillard
“Au Bord de la Mer”
Oil on canvas, 13×16.25
182 Paule Gobillard
“Panier de Fruits”
Oil on canvas, 19.5×25.5
183 Paule Gobillard
“Vase de Fleurs”
Oil on canvas, 25.5×21.5
184 Paule Gobillard
“Jeune Femme Tricotant Pres de la Fanetre”
Oil on canvas, 21.5×18
185 Pieter Brueghel the Younger
“The Adoration of Kings,” 1617 Oil on panel, 15.25×22.5
186 Peter Paul Rubens
“The Virgin and the Child,” aka The Cumberland Madonna
187 Peter van Schendel
“Boy with the Torch”
35×29.5
188 Piet Mondrian
Undetermined title, painting with yellow, white and blue
189 Piet Mondrian
“Eucalyptus”
Oil on canvas, 51x41cm
190 Pierre Auguste Renoir
Painting of undetermined title
191 Pierre Auguste Renoir
“Jeunes Filles au bord de L’eau,”
purchased for $475,000 from Hammer Galleries
Oil on canvas, 12.75×16.5cm
192 Pietro Longhi
“The Charlatan”
Oil on canvas, 62x51cm
193 Pietro Longhi
“The Fortuneteller”
Oil on canvas, 62x51cm
194 Pseudo-Pier Francesco Fiorentino
“Virgin with Child Blessing the Battistino”
Tempera on panel, 65x37cm
195 Raphael
“St. Catherine of Alexandria”
Tempera on panel
196 Rene Magritte
“La Lumiere des Coincidence,”
1958 10×12.5
197 Rosalba Carriera
“Half Figure of a Young
Woman”
Pastel on paper, 53x43cm
198 Sano di Pietro
“St. Catherine of Siena”
Tempera on panel, 50x33cm
199 Sano di Pietro
“St. Bernardino of Siena”
Tempera on panel, 50x33cm
200 Sebastiano Ricci
“Last Supper”
Oil on canvas
201 Sir Anthony van Dyke
“An Apostle (St. Simone?)”
Oil on canvas, 109x89cm
202 Titian
“Portrait of Giulio Romano”
Oil on canvas, 102x87cm
203 Unsigned
“St. Peter or Paul”
Oil on canvas, 35×25
204 Unknown
“Woman Sitting with a Flower on Lap beside a Sitting Dog”
205 Unknown
“Portrait of a Woman Holding
a Pencil”
206 Vincent Van Gogh
“Peasant Woman Winding
Bobbins” Watercolor, 13×16.5
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The sudden move by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to order a search of the San Juan residence, offices and other homes of the Marcos family for precious artworks that the PCGG claims should belong to the government caught many by surprise.
Why only now?
One of those asking this question is Robert Swift, the lead lawyer of the 9,539 rights abuse victims during the martial law regime (1972 to 1986) of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who doubts the motives of the PCGG, the agency created by the first Aquino government to recover the ill-gotten assets of Marcos, his family and associates.
He believes the PCGG is “playing a game” of recovering the paintings as part of a strategy to nullify the $2-billion judgment that the victims won in a class action suit against the Marcoses in a Hawaii court.
“The PCGG has known about the paintings for over 28 years and done nothing about them until now,” said Swift.
In 1995, a US federal grand jury in Hawaii found the Marcos dictatorship liable for the torture, summary executions and disappearances of about 10,000 people and awarded the victims $2 billion in damages from the Marcos estate.
According to Swift, Philippine courts have refused to recognize the $2-billion judgment while the Philippine government uses its sovereign immunity in the United States to try and prevent the members of the class suit from litigating to collect on the judgment, touting Sandiganbayan decisions forfeiting various Marcos assets in favor of the government as enforceable in the United States.
Unable to collect
In addition, Swift said the claimants in the class suit also have a 2011 US judgment against Imelda Marcos personally for $353.6 million, which they are entitled to execute on any property she owns. But again, collection of the judgment has been difficult because Philippine courts do not recognize the US judgment.
Swift himself has been engaged for decades in hunting for Marcos assets, including the art pieces—many of them by recognized masters that Marcos’ wife Imelda is said to have acquired using the Marcoses’ enormous wealth—in the interest of collecting on the $2-billion judgment.
Ill-gotten or not, the Marcos assets should be used to compensate the human rights victims of Marcos’ martial rule, he argues.
“The class [suit members] are entitled to pursue any assets of Mrs. Marcos, including her art collection, because the class obtained a [2011] judgment against her personally for $353.6 million,” he said.
Finders keepers?
The PCGG and the claimants represented by Swift are therefore in a race to who gets to the trove first. Does the search mean finders keepers?
One of the Marcos art pieces that has been traced, French impressionist Claude Monet’s “Les Bassin Nymphease,” also known as “Water Lilies,” was sold by Imelda’s aide, Vilma Bautista, to a collector for $32 million. To avoid litigation, the buyer offered $10 million to the members of the class suit against the Marcos estate. Bautista and her conspirators continue to face prosecution for selling what did not belong to them.
In March, proceeds from the settlement on the Monet painting were divided among the claimants, the second distribution since 2010. (For each claimant, $1,000 in 2010 and another $1,000 in 2014.) These are a mere trickle from the $2-billion award.
More where it came from
But there’s apparently more where the Monet came from. On Oct. 1, sheriffs of the Sandiganbayan, armed with a writ of attachment from the antigraft court, seized an undetermined number of artworks from the Marcoses’ San Juan residence.
Masterpieces
The writ, issued on the request of the PCGG, covered at least eight Old Masters works in the possession of the Marcos family, including “Madonna and Child” by Michelangelo Buonarroti, “Femme Couchee VI” (Reclining Woman VI) by Pablo Picasso, “Portrait of the Marqueza de Sta. Cruz” by Francisco de Goya, “Still Life with Idol” by Paul Gauguin, “La Baignade Au Grand Temps” by Pierre Bonnard, “Vase of Chrysanthemums” by Bernard Buffet, “Jardin de Kew pres de la Serre 1892” by Camille Pissarro and “L’Aube” by Joan Miró.
Swift’s list of artworks, whose value could partly fund the rights abuse victims’ claim, is even longer at 206, not including the “Water Lilies” that was sold.
On the list of 206 are two Picassos, two Gaugins, two Botticellis, three Degases, one Matisse, one Cezanne, one Van Gogh, one El Greco, one Fra Filippo Lippi (1460), one Raphael, one Titian, one Manet, 52 Gobillards, 18 Grandma Moses and three Monets. (“Water Lilies” was one of the three Monets on the list.)
The other Monet, “L’Eglise et La Seine a Vetheuil” (also known as “L’Eglise a Vethueuil”) and an 1887 painting by French impressionist Alfred Sisley (“Langland Bay”) will soon be traced, if not already found, the lawyer said.
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MANILA, Philippines–Militant lawmakers in interviews with the Inquirer Sunday called on the Aquino administration to turn the screws on the Marcoses for refusing to turn over 156 artworks, including paintings of Van Gogh, Monet and Michelangelo that were allegedly part of their ill-gotten wealth.
“I think we should end this kid gloves’ treatment of the Marcoses. If the government wants to confiscate those paintings, it can do it and use the law to do it,” said Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) announced on Friday that in a series of raids, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation had seized 15 paintings from the Marcos residences.
Kabataan Rep. Terry Ridon told the Inquirer that the PCGG should be bold enough to file contempt charges against Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos and Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos.
“The Marcoses should have the good sense to just surrender the paintings to the government,” Ridon said.
Skirting a lawful order does not bode well for the presidential ambitions of the family,” he said, referring to Senator Marcos’ avowed interest in running for President or Vice President in the 2016 elections.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said: “It has been decades since the former dictator had been ousted from power but we barely skimmed the surface of his ill-gotten wealth and his family is again creeping into power. The government should go all out in retrieving the Marcos loot.”
Only now
PCGG Chair Andres Bautista on Sunday said it was only now that the government was acting on the Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling in favor of the government’s forfeiture of the Marcos family’s estimated ill-gotten wealth of $10 billion, including $658 million in Swiss bank deposits, priceless artworks and prime properties abroad.
He said the decision was penned by then Justice Renato Corona who computed the Marcos family’s wealth at only $304,000 with anything above that considered disproportionate to the late Ferdinand Marcos’ salary as President from 1965 to 1986.
The raids were carried out last week after the Sandiganbayan ruled that eight paintings owned by Imelda were purchased using money stolen from the government.
“At least now we are acting on it and we want to convey a strong message that we have not forgotten about the Marcoses,” Bautista said.
Tipped off
He said the Marcoses were obviously tipped off by the Sandiganbayan’s issuance of a “writ of attachment” on 156 paintings believed to be held by the Marcoses in their family home in San Juan City, Imelda’s condominium at Fort Bonifacio Global City, Imelda’s office at the Batasan Pambansa complex in Quezon City and the ancestral house in Ilocos Norte.
Bautista said last week’s series of raids yielded only 15 paintings of which four were reproductions with the rest done by European painters and not by the old masters.
“We still think it will generate millions in value but not in the level of the old masters we are still hunting for,” Bautista said.
He noted that the frames found in the Marcos homes contained different paintings while some walls had only hooks where he believed the old masters were displayed.
“We should act quickly and ask for the cooperation of the public to find these paintings before they disappear or are spirited [away],” he said.
Public hearing
Bautista suggested that the Senate or the House of Representatives conduct a public hearing on the 156 paintings where the PCGG would present evidence that the Marcoses possessed these valuable artworks.
“We want to increase public awareness on these paintings, that these are all the property of the country, and we believe that a congressional hearing will help in achieving these goals,” he said.
The paintings included Pablo Picasso’s “Femme Couchee VI (Reclining Woman VI)”; Michelangelo’s “Madonna and Child”; a still life by Paul Gauguin; Marquesa de Santa Cruz; Pierre Bonnard’s “La Baignade Au Grand Temps”; Bernard Buffet’s “Vase of Red Chrysanthemums”; Joan Miro’s “L’Aube”; and one of Camille Pissarro’s “Jardin de Kew” series.
Bautista said the 156 artworks the PCGG was looking for also included masterpieces by Old Masters Van Gogh, Monet and Michelangelo.
Bautista said earlier this year that Philippine authorities had recovered more than $4 billion of an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion amassed illegally by the Marcoses. That included $712 million from Marcos’ secret Swiss bank accounts, he said.
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MANILA, Philippines - "We practically own everything in the Philippines-from electricity, telecommunications, airline, banking, beer and tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations, shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to coconut milling, small farms, real estate and insurance," said Imelda Marcos, talking to the Inquirer in 1998 while she disclosed her plan to file an intervention suit against the cronies of her husband.
Imelda said the Marcos family accumulated its wealth "without dipping into government coffers."
Former Senate President Jovito Salonga challenged Imelda's claim, saying that the Marcoses had started raiding the government coffers barely two years into the first term of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1965, with his wife using intelligence funds to finance her foreign trips as first lady and stashing part of the money in Swiss banks.
In his book "Presidential Plunder: The Quest for the Marcos Ill-gotten Wealth," Salonga enumerated the ways by which the Marcoses acquired and safeguarded ill-gotten wealth.
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MANILA, Philippines—Authorities swooped down Friday on the Marcos Museum in Batac City, Ilocos Norte to confiscate eight paintings, including Michaelangelo’s Madonna and Child and Pablo Picasso’s Femme Couche VI, that the Sandiganbayan ordered seized, a radio report said.
Operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) raided the museum around 10 a.m., the report said, but failed to find the expensive paintings.
The Sandiganbayan last week ordered the seizure of the eight paintings it said are part of the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth.
Subject to forfeiture are the following artworks:
- 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但ube by Joan Miro
- Femme Couche VI (Reclining Woman VI) by Pablo Picasso
- Jardin de Kew pres de la Serre 1892 by Camille Pissarro
However, after an hour of search inside the museum, no paintings were found except for the family portraits of the Marcoses.
The staff of Ilocos Norte second district Representative Imelda Marcos were present during the raid.
On Tuesday, the NBI and PCGG seized the painting collections of the Marcoses in their San Juan residence.
INQUIRER.net tried to contact the camp of the Marcoses but has not responded yet.
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