THE residential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has kept the lower valuation for the two confiscated jewelry collections of former First Lady Imelda Marcos in its 2022 Financial Statements at only P340.228 million or P689.78 million lower than what was listed in its books in 2020 and 2019.
Both collections — the Hawaii Jewelry Collection and the Malacañang Collection — were listed under “confiscated property/assets” which had a declared value of P1.03 billion two years ago.
The Hawaii Jewelry Collection, the more valuable of the two based on the separate appraisals by two foreign auction houses, was listed at only P137.5 million.
That was at least P755 million lower than the P892.51 million average appraisal from auctioneers Christie’s and Sotheby’s.
Christie’s, which inspected 406 pieces of the Hawaii Collection on December 15, 2015, assigned a low of $10.922 million and a high of $18.664 million or an average of $14.793 million. Converted to local currency based on the prevailing exchange rate of P47.305:$1.00 at the time, the average appraisal totaled P699.822 million.
On the other hand, Sotheby’s, despite inspecting only 376 pieces from the same collection on January 13, 2016, submitted a low of $17.24 million and a high of $28.621 million or a $22.93 million average. Converted to Philippine peso, the average came up to P1.085 billion.
However, the PCGG books ignored the two most recent appraisals and listed the Hawaii Collection based on a 1991 assessment.
“The recorded cost of the items amounting to P137,500,701.81 was based on the appraisal made in 1991 which was eventually adjusted in 2005 to reflect increase in appraisal,” the Notes to the Financial Statement read.
However, the same document noted that “the latest appraisal of the said collection amounts to P892,509,675.64 …or 549 percent above the recorded amount.”
Curiously, the PCGG listed the less valuable Malacañang Collection based on the latest appraisal by the two international auction houses.
Christie’s set the average appraisal of 215 pieces in the collection at $6.816 million (P322.432 million) while Sotheby’s priced the 199 pieces it inspected at $1.739 million (P82.277 million)
The PCGG computed the average of the two appraisals at P202.354 million which was the value listed in its books — thereby making the valuation of the two collections lopsided.
The third Marcos jewelry collection, the Roumeliotes Collection, was not mentioned at all in the audit report. It was seized by the Bureau of Customs from an American who was caught trying to smuggle them out of the country in his luggage.
All three collections are being kept in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Auditors noted that “the Hawaii Jewelry Collection was seized by the United States Customs Service and turned over to the Philippine government through a December 18, 1992 ruling of the Hawaii District Court.”
