SC upholds forfeiture of Imelda’s Malacanang jewelry collection

February 13, 2017

The Supreme Court sustained a partial summary judgment by the Sandiganbayan ordering forfeiture in favor of the government of the Malacanang jewelry collection, one of three collections owned by former First Lady Imelda Marcos confiscated in 1986.

In a 21-page decision written by Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, the SC’s First Division denied the petition filed by Mrs. Marcos and her daughter Irene Marcos-Araneta seeking the reversal of the Sandiganbayan’s decision issued on January 13, 2014 declaring that the jewelry collection, which is assessed to be worth from $110,055 to $153,089, was part of the Marcoses' ill-gotten wealth.

“Petitioners failed to satisfactorily show that the properties were lawfully acquired; hence, the prima facie presumption that they were unlawfully acquired prevails,” the SC stressed.

The Malacanang collection is composed of smaller, less expensive pieces the Marcoses left behind when they fled during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.

In ruling against the Marcoses, the SC held that “the forfeiture was justified and that the Malacafiang Collection was subject to forfeiture.”

“We reiterate what we have already stated initially in Republic v. Sandiganbayan, and subsequently in Marcos v. Republic:  that ‘whenever any public officer or employee has acquired during his incumbency an amount of property which is manifestly out of proportion to his salary as such public officer or employee and to his other lawful income and the income from legitimately acquired property, said property shall be presumed prima facie to have been unlawfully acquired,” the SC said.

The high tribunal also rejected the claim of the Marcoses they were deprived of due process.

“They allege that they were denied due process by not being given any opportunity to prove their lawful acquisition of the Malacafiang Collection. They allege that they were denied due process by not being given any opportunity to prove their lawful acquisition of the Malacafiang Collection. This allegation cannot be given credence for being utterly baseless,” the SC ruled.

The Malacañang Collection is in the vaults of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas along with the Roumeliotes and Hawaii collections.

The 60-piece Roumeliotes Collection was seized from Demetriou Roumeliotes, a Greek national, at the Manila International Airport as he was about to leave in March 1986.

The Hawaii collection is made up of jewelry found in the family's luggage when they arrived at the Honolulu International Airport on February 25, 1986. DMS