Imelda Marcos loses bid to reclaim jewels

The items worth US$150,000 are now the property of the state, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled, paving the way for the possible sale of a much larger collection of Marcos jewellery that could net the government millions.

MANILA // Former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos has lost a long fight to reclaim jewels confiscated when her dictator husband was ousted, with the Supreme Court ruling she acquired them illegally.

The items worth US$150,000 (Dh550,000) are now the property of the state, the court ruled, paving the way for the possible sale of a much larger collection of Marcos jewellery that could net the government millions.

“Petitioners failed to satisfactorily show that the properties were lawfully acquired,” the January 18 ruling stated, which the court made public only this week.

The law provides that property acquired by a government official at a cost “manifestly out of proportion to his salary” or other lawful income was sufficient “presumption that they were unlawfully acquired”, it added.

The jewellery in the case was recovered from the Malacanang presidential palace after the Marcos family fled to the US in 1986, when a bloodless “People Power” revolution ended its 20-year rule.

Proceeding governments have cited it as proof that the family systematically looted state coffers while millions of their countrymen endured poverty.

Authorities estimated Marcos and his allies stole about US$10 billion when he was in power, with less than half so far recovered through litigation and through negotiated settlements with Marcos cronies.

An anti-graft court forfeited the jewellery in favour of the state in 2009, but Mrs Marcos raised the case in the Supreme Court in 2014.

In all, the government said it had recovered about $21 million worth of Marcos jewellery, including items seized by US customs during the family’s flight to exile. These were later turned over to Manila.

The entire collection, now stored at the Central Bank, includes diamond-studded tiaras, a golden belt with a diamond buckle, necklaces, brooches, earrings, belts and other gems including a pink diamond.

* Agence France-Presse