We refer to the news article titled “Marcoses oppose forfeiture of seized Malacañang jewelry” (News, 4/4/14). In the eighth paragraph, the report says that “Only the Malacañang collection has been declared forfeited by the court. No judgment has yet been handed down on the two other collections.”
May we clarify: The two other collections—known as the Roumeliotes and Hawaii collections—have already been forfeited in favor of government and have been sitting in a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas vault for decades.
The Roumeliotes collection was seized at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport by the Bureau of Customs from a Greek national, Demetrious Roumeliotes, as he was attempting to bring the jewelry out of the country in March 1986. The confiscation was
affirmed by the Supreme Court on July 18, 1994.
The Hawaii collection was confiscated from the Marcoses by US authorities in February 1986 when they arrived in Hawaii. The jewelry was then turned over to the Philippine government by the US District Court of Hawaii on Dec. 18, 1992. These items were recovered pursuant to a settlement agreement between the Republic of the Philippines/Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and Imelda R. Marcos on Oct. 15, 1991, and by virtue of the Conveyance, Grant and Bill executed by Ms Marcos transferring to the PCGG all rights, title and interest in
these items.
—NICK V. SUAREZ,
public information officer,
Presidential Commission
on Good Government