Category: imelda’s jewels

70 years of Imelda

That is, 70 years since she became a public figure in 1954, when she married Ilocos Rep. Ferdinand Marcos; she was 25. In her birthday speech@95 Imelda was superhappy to be back in Malacañang with her son the President and she thanked God for such a rich life, or something like that. Meanwhile, PBBM’s historical revisionism continues apace. Sharing here Philstar columnist Ana Marie Pamintuan’s reaction to the president’s “Mama Meldy” six-minute vlog tribute that I just can’t bear to watch. 

History lessons
By Ana Marie Pamintuan

The only son of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos is busy rewriting the story of their family, and the TikTok generation may be unable or unwilling to determine the truth.

Ferdinand Junior’s latest effort to whitewash his parents’ criminal record (of large-scale corruption and gross human rights violations) can be seen in his seemingly innocuous birthday greeting to his mommie dearest, Imeldific.

After treating her to yet another birthday party at Malacañang, where her infamous shoe collection was moved out many years ago, BBM paid tribute to “Mama Meldy” in a six-minute vlog, in which he lauded her “profound impact” on the country and for turning Filipinos’ “countless dreams into reality.”

BBM correctly cited Imeldific’s pet projects when she was the all-powerful first lady of Ferdinand Senior: the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the Philippine Heart Center, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Cultural Center of the Philippines and Folk Arts Theater.

Left out of this gushing tribute were the corruption scandals when they were built, about the massive kickbacks that gave rise to the term “edifice complex” and the jokes about Imeldific’s penchant for “mining” – all this is mine, mine, mine.

During the Marcoses’ encounters with Japanese officials at the time, the standard joke was that the conjugal dictators “robbed the Philippines very much.”

“My mother doesn’t get angry. She doesn’t pick a fight with anyone,” BBM posted in his vlog.

You won’t get angry, either, and won’t feel the need to pick a fight if you manage to get away with everything.

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Imelda (after) Marcos #Halalan2022

Dovie Beams and Philippine Politics: A President’s Scandalous Affair and First Lady Power on the Eve of Martial Law 

 

kris, and imelda, on our minds

i’m in the middle of putting together a ninoy bio but kris and imelda in the news at the same time — amazing synchronicities all around — calls for a blogging break.

kris is screaming theft.  “tens of tax paid millions from my sons’ trust funds,” she said in sept 25.  ayun pala some P1.2 M lang, in credit card charges pa, that the accused is perfectly willing to pay, as on previous occasions.  what’s going on, kris?  magkano ba talaga?  tapos, may pa-threat-threat ka pa daw?

JESUS FALCIS:  I heard it personally.  Ms Aquino threatened  my brother.
You f*cking asshole!  Nick, wag ka tatapak dito sa Pilipinas.  Dare to step in this country and you will be dead.

parang the level of anger is O.A.  isn’t she relieved na nagkamali siya, hindi pala tens of millions ang nawawala, as she thought at first?  might this be a more complicated case, with aggravating pangs of unrequited something-something, as in, a woman scorned?  if not, fine.  if yes, well, yes, P1.2M is P1.2M, lalo na if the guy led her on, or something like that.  but i don’t know.  it feels like a publicity stunt to me.  a running publicity stunt, maybe all the way to 2022?  who knows with these crazy rich women.

which brings me to imelda, who has been found guilty of seven charges of graft while in office back in the good old bad days of martial law.  loyalists are asking why has it taken so long to prove her guilt, 27 years, what about her right to a speedy trial?  say ko naman, it’s not as if the marcoses weren’t paying their big time lawyers to delay and delay and delay, maybe until a marcos-friendly supreme court happens along, presumably if/when bongbong manages to reclaim the palace?

loyalists are also saying that at 89 imelda’s too old to go to jail.  kay digong ko una narinig ito, early in his presidency.

President Rodrigo Duterte said that prisoners who are at least 70 years old should be released from prison, according to the law. And since he’s already 71 years old, he can no longer be jailed.

but wait.  atty raymond fortun begged to disagree.

… litigation lawyer Raymond Fortun said that Duterte thought wrong about being safe from imprisonment because of his advanced age.

“With all due respect to the President, he is wrong here,” Fortun said in his Facebook post.

“Age is merely a MITIGATING circumstance (Art. 13, Sec 2, RPC). It does NOT mean that he cannot be charged and, if found convicted, cannot service his sentence in jail. Being 70 years of age merely reduces the penalty to its minimum (or, if there are other mitigating circumstances, by 1 to 2 degrees lower),” he said.

iyan rin ang sabi ni atty noel del prado sa usapang de campanilla on dzmm kanina.  as for the health issue —  she’s suffering from “multiple organ infirmities” and  “under strict orders to refrain from stressful conditions” — medyo mahirap ang excuse slip na ganyan kapag nakaka-four terms ka na sa konggreso, at may balak ka pang tumakbo for governor sa 2019.

i imagine though that imee, bongbong, and irene will move heaven and earth to spare their matriarch, and i get it.  in their place, i would probably do the same.

a marcos milestone: an admission of “questionable wealth”

so, is it to distract us from the alleged links of paolo duterte to smuggling and shabu, this startling revelation by the president that the marcoses are offering to return some of the “questionable wealth” to help the economy?

“The Marcoses, I will not name the spokesman, sabi nila (they said), ‘we’ll open everything and hopefully return yung mga nakita na talaga (those that had been discovered),’” he added. The President said the Marcoses are also willing to return a “few gold bars.”

“Sabi nila na, malaki ang deficit mo, maybe the (sic) projected spending pero hindi ito malaki baka makatulong, but we are ready to open and bring back, sabi niya, pati yung a few gold bars (They said that, your deficit is high, maybe the projected spending but this is not big, maybe it will help, but we are ready to open and bring back, they said, even a few gold bars),” he said. 

in barely coherent sentences, but yeah, we get the drift even if  the president was very careful to say just enough so we get it that there is an offer, and he is open to the offer.  gov imee marcos, for her part, does not deny it, though parang she was caught unprepared, parang the prez didn’t warn them that he would be making it public when he did?

Imee pins hopes on Duterte to end all charges vs Marcoses
MANILA – Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos on Tuesday kept mum about the possible return of the family’s ill-gotten wealth to the government, saying there are no formal negotiations about the matter.

“Wala pa, wala pa. Tiwala kami sa President na siya ang makakapagtapos ng deka-dekadang kaso at yung pamilya nag-uusap pa pero nasa kamay ng mga abogado,” she said when asked if negotiations have started about the return of the Marcos wealth.  Asked if there was an intention to return, the governor said: “Pag-usapan na lang ng mga abogado.”

The governor refused to take any more questions, advising media to instead wait for the statement of their legal counsel.

this distraction is up there as the most distractive of recent times.  because this is the first time ever that the marcoses are conceding that some plundering of the nation’s wealth did happen under ferdinand’s watch.  there is even a justification offered, acc to duterte:

“Sabi nila, isauli nila para walang ano—and the only reason, sabi nila, was the father was just protecting the economy for the [eventuality] na umalis siya. He thought of regaining the Malacañang, that is why ganito ang lumabas na parang naitago,” he added.

ferdinand and fabian did plan to recapture the palace.  the story is, marcos and ver meant to regroup and set up government in paoay kaya lang the marcoses made the mistake of asking the americans, and not the presidential pilots with choppers on standby, to fly them out of the palace.  upon cory’s request and reagan’s instructions, the americans flew him to hawaii instead.  which is why imelda and bongbong insist that they were kidnapped.

this is not to say that if marcos had made it to paoay, naisoli sana agad o nagamit nang maayos para sa bayan ang questionable wealth.  the only thing that’s clear is that if he had made it to paoay and managed to regroup and challenge the legitimacy of the cory aquino government, it would have meant civil war.  at ibinato pa rin sa kanya tiyak ang isyu ng nakaw na yaman, nadiskubre pa rin tiyak ang mga secret $ accounts at ang tone-toneladang ginto, at kung ano-ano pa.

it is quite conceivable, actually, that this is a sign na suko na, give up na, si imelda at ang magkakapatid.  maaaring ngayon lang nila na-realize o natanggap na hindi bibitawan ever ang isyung plunder in the time of marcos, and they’re finally tired of being the bad guys, still the kontravidas in the current telenovela of nation.  i imagine that they must really really like to be done with this three decades old case and wipe away the stain on the marcos name if only for the sake of the grandchildren and, sige na nga, ferdinand in his centennial year.  why not indeed.  in effect, this is a win for nation, panalo ang bayan — the marcoses blinked first.

save the nation movement‘s butch valdes thinks it’s a real offer.

Butch Valdes : … but it would need the cooperation of Duterte to make official requests to intl banks holding the gold. Their previous condition was that the Marcoses are exonerated from all cases against them by the Phil govt. FM’s will indicated that 90% be given to the filipino people thru acceptable foundations. I think Imelda wants it implemented before she goes.

siyempre galit na galit ang mga anti-marcos sa parteng ito: …”we’ll open everything and hopefully return yung mga nakita na talaga (those that had been discovered),” at dito rin: ‘The President said the Marcoses are also willing to return a “few gold bars.”’  dapat daw ay isauli LAHAT ng ninakaw.  at ang tanong nila ay, ano ang kapalit, ano ang ex-deal with the marcoses.  exoneration from all cases din kaya, as with international banks?  read  Palace vows return of Marcos wealth will adhere to laws.

it would be naive to think that the marcoses would ever give up EVERYTHING.  no doubt imelda has documents galore to prove that some of the wealth is legally theirs.  and they will surely quote from the bible: the child will not be punished for the parent’s sins; nor the wife for the husband’s, yes?  heto nga’t gusto na nilang magsauli ng hindi sa kanila.

kung magmamatigasan, negotiations could take another decade before a final settlement.  but because duterte needs the money now na, who knows, baka ma-fast-track nang katakut-takot, and next thing we know, done deal na.  according to justice sec vitaliano aguirre:

“The president is authorized and has the power to make compromise or any agreement with the Marcoses. If there will be a new agreement, there should be enabling law or initiative law to be issued by the President himself,” he said.

top off my mind:  if imelda and the children are now admitting that ferdinand was guilty of some plunder, is he now still deserving of the burial as bayani?  what about imelda’s jewels?  will she continue to claim them as legally hers?  sana ibalato na niya sa taong-bayan.  she can spin it anyway she likes, basta she gives up her claim on condition that the jewels are showcased along with her shoes and ternos, soaps and perfumes, as artifacts of a time when she was quite the queen.  as tourist attraction, this would be a gift that won’t stop giving.

The $10bn question: what happened to the Marcos millions?

Nick Davies
theguardian.com

In the early hours of a February morning in 1986, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos flew into exile. …  In the two C-141 transport planes that carried them, they had packed: 23 wooden crates; 12 suitcases and bags, and various boxes, whose contents included enough clothes to fill 67 racks; 413 pieces of jewellery, including 70 pairs of jewel-studded cufflinks; an ivory statue of the infant Jesus with a silver mantle and a diamond necklace; 24 gold bricks, inscribed “To my husband on our 24th anniversary”; and more than 27m Philippine pesos in freshly-printed notes. The total value was $15m.

This was a fortune by any standards, easily enough to see the couple through the rest of their lives. Yet the new government of the Philippines knew this was only a very small part of the Marcoses’ wealth. The reality, they discovered, was that Ferdinand Marcos had amassed a fortune up to 650 times greater. According to a subsequent estimate by the Philippine supreme court, he had accumulated up to $10bn while in office.

Since his official salary had never risen above $13,500 a year, it was blazingly clear this was stolen wealth on the most spectacular scale.

Read on…