Philippines seeks public help in search for Imelda’s treasures
The Philippine government plans to launch a website next month to collect hints and tips from the public on the whereabouts of about 200 missing artworks that were owned by former first lady Imelda Marcos, including paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso, Michelangelo and Rembrandt.
The announcement came as the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s were finishing a week-long assessment of jewelry seized after Imelda Marcos and her husband, the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, fled to Hawaii in 1986 after two decades of rule. The pair allegedly amassed billions of dollars’ worth of ill-gotten wealth, and Imelda became known for her huge shoe collection and staggering jewelry. Only last week, experts at Christie’s found a rare 25-carat pink diamond valued $5 million in a three-set jewelry collection said to have been owned by Imelda.
According to Commissioner Andrew de Castro of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which has been tasked with recovering the wealth amassed by the Marcos family, the commission wants to inform the public about the art treasures so they can help track them down.
Among the paintings is one by Claude Monet that was sold for $32 million in 2010 by Imelda Marcos’ former secretary Vilma Bautista. She was sentenced by a New York court to up to six years’ imprisonment for conspiring to sell the painting and tax fraud. The Philippine government, however, is still trying to recover the funds.
Imelda Marcos insists that the works were gifts rather than acquired with stolen state funds. The 86-year old has been charged with a number of crimes but consistently denied embezzlement and was never convicted of any offense. Today, she is a serving member of Member of the Philippine House of Representatives for Ilocos Norte’s Second District.
Famous quotes by Imelda:
I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty.
Win or lose, we go shopping after the election.
If you know how rich you are, you are not rich. But me, I am not aware of the extent of my wealth. That’s how rich we are.
I get so tired listening to one million dollars here, one million dollars there, it’s so petty.
The Philippine government plans to launch a website next month to collect hints and tips from the public on the whereabouts of about 200 missing artworks that were owned by former first lady Imelda Marcos, including paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso, Michelangelo and Rembrandt. The announcement came as the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s were finishing a week-long assessment of jewelry seized after Imelda Marcos and her husband, the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, fled to Hawaii in 1986 after two decades of rule. The pair allegedly amassed billions of dollars’ worth of ill-gotten wealth, and Imelda became known for her...
The Philippine government plans to launch a website next month to collect hints and tips from the public on the whereabouts of about 200 missing artworks that were owned by former first lady Imelda Marcos, including paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso, Michelangelo and Rembrandt.
The announcement came as the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s were finishing a week-long assessment of jewelry seized after Imelda Marcos and her husband, the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, fled to Hawaii in 1986 after two decades of rule. The pair allegedly amassed billions of dollars’ worth of ill-gotten wealth, and Imelda became known for her huge shoe collection and staggering jewelry. Only last week, experts at Christie’s found a rare 25-carat pink diamond valued $5 million in a three-set jewelry collection said to have been owned by Imelda.
According to Commissioner Andrew de Castro of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which has been tasked with recovering the wealth amassed by the Marcos family, the commission wants to inform the public about the art treasures so they can help track them down.
Among the paintings is one by Claude Monet that was sold for $32 million in 2010 by Imelda Marcos’ former secretary Vilma Bautista. She was sentenced by a New York court to up to six years’ imprisonment for conspiring to sell the painting and tax fraud. The Philippine government, however, is still trying to recover the funds.
Imelda Marcos insists that the works were gifts rather than acquired with stolen state funds. The 86-year old has been charged with a number of crimes but consistently denied embezzlement and was never convicted of any offense. Today, she is a serving member of Member of the Philippine House of Representatives for Ilocos Norte’s Second District.
Famous quotes by Imelda:
I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty.
Win or lose, we go shopping after the election.
If you know how rich you are, you are not rich. But me, I am not aware of the extent of my wealth. That’s how rich we are.
I get so tired listening to one million dollars here, one million dollars there, it’s so petty.
