THE Supreme Court has sustained the partial summary judgment rendered by the Sandiganbayan ordering the forfeiture in favor of the government of the so-called Malacañang jewelry collection, one of three collections confiscated from former first lady Imelda Marcos in 1986.
In a decision written by Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, the Court’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 Jan. 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 Court said.
The Malacañang Collection is composed of smaller, less expensive pieces that 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 Malacañang Collection was subject to forfeiture.”
The Court noted that the legitimate income of the Marcoses had been pegged at $304,372.43 from the period 1966-1986.
“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 Court said.
The Court also rejected the claim of the Marcoses that they were deprived of due process since there has been no trial or hearing for them to be able to prove that the jewelry were legally acquired.
“They allege that they were denied due process by not being given any opportunity to prove their lawful acquisition of the Malacañang Collection. They allege that they were denied due process by not being given any opportunity to prove their lawful acquisition of the Malacañang Collection. This allegation cannot be given credence for being utterly baseless,” the Court ruled.
The Malacañang Collection is kept 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 the country in March 1986.
The Hawaii Collection, on the other hand, comprises jewelry found in the family’s luggage when they arrived at the Honolulu International Airport on Feb. 25, 1986.