imelda marcos

No Sale Yet For Imelda's Jewels

Filed under: Jewelry, Crimes and Misdemeanors

It looks like the incredible jewels of Imelda Marcos won't be up for sale any time soon. The AFP reports that Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has said that any decision on selling the seized jewels of the former first lady should be left to her successor. Arroyo will be stepping down on June 30 to make room for Benigno Aquino, the son of President Corazon Aquino and former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. His parents led anti-Marcos revolution that eventually led to Ferdinand Marcos and his wife leaving the Philippines.

Major auction houses have been brought in to appraise the jewelry and the government could use the cash but the president decided to delay the auction in order to avoid suspicious of a last minute deal. The collection is said to be worth millions and includes a ruby pendant as large as a thumb and a 100-carat diamond necklace. Imelda Marcos continues to insist that her famed extravagances were bought with her husband's personal investments.

Tags: imelda marcos, philippine, Philippines

Will Imelda Marcos Get More Of Her Jewels Back?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Jewelry

Recently the former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos turned 80 and it seems that one of her belated gifts might be the return of her jewelry. News sources in the Philippines are reporting that two jewelry collections owned by the woman who once amassed over 3,000 pairs of shoes, may be returned to her. The two jewelry collections worth around $7 million have been excluded from a government forfeiture case. One set of jewelry, the the Malacañang collection, was the only collection mentioned in Civil Case No. 141, the OSG said. It is worth anywhere from $110,055 to $153,089. The other two collections are the Hawaii collection which was seized by United States Customs when the Marcoses fled the Philippines in 1986. The Roumeliotes collection, the most expensive of the three, was seized from Greek national Demetriou Roumeliotes while he was at the Manila International Airport on March 1, 1986. You can see pictures of some of Imelda's amazing collection here. It's an impressive display of wealth and decadence.

Marcos spent her birthday last week giving rice to the poor in an area outside of Manila. She told the AFP that her "birthday wish is that I be given more health and a longer life so I can devote myself to helping the Filipino poor." She addressed the crowds while wearing a pink dress, jade earrings, jade ring and a huge diamond ring. She has said that she is nearly broke after 23 years of conflict with the government. Her husband and dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted from power in 1986 (he came to power in 1965 as president and later declared martial law to hold on to his power) and died in 1989. Imelda herself once made a failed attempt at running for president. Marcos has faced many criminal and civil cases but so far only 683 million dollars of the reported billions amassed by the Marcoses have been returned to the government.

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Tags: imelda marcos, ImeldaMarcos, jewels