PCGG to sell Imelda Marcos jewelry, Pasig prime property in next 2 years

MANILA, Philippines—Former First Lady Imelda Marcos’ jewelry from the so-called Hawaii collection and the contested 18.5-hectare prime commercial property Payanig sa Pasig are among the P18.2 billion worth of recovered ill-gotten assets of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos that the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) plans to sell within the next two years.

The Hawaii collection comprises jewels seized by the United States Bureau of Customs from the Marcoses when they fled to Honolulu, Hawaii, during the 1986 People Power revolt.

The Payanig sa Pasig property, located at the heart of the Ortigas business district, was surrendered to the government in 1986 by an associate of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

The PCGG under the present administration has identified 38 assets for privatization from 2011 to 2014.

Four properties have been successfully sold to the highest bidder for a combined P477 million. These are: the Wack-Wack property at EDSA corner Berkeley Street in Mandaluyong City; the Hans Menzi compound in Baguio City; the Mapalad property along Roxas Boulevard, Parañaque City; and the Banaue Inn compound in Baguio City.

The biggest of the sequestered assets, which have yet to be sold is Payanig sa Pasig property, which has an estimated value of P13.8 billion. It will be put on the auction block in 2013.

After getting Malacañang’s backing in 2012, the PCGG is still trying to reassert control over the lucrative commercial property and eject non-paying tenants while fighting off a contesting claim from a private group led by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson.

Lined up for sale in 2013 is the Marcos’ Hawaii collection, which consists of 400 pieces of jewelry with an estimated value of P112.5 million.

No timeline is set for the two other Marcos jewelry caches—the so-called Malacañang collection of about 300 pieces left behind in Mrs. Marcos’ closets and the so-called Roumeliotes collection of 60 pieces that the former first lady’s Greek accomplice, Demetriou Roumeliotes, tried to spirit out of the country a few weeks after the Marcoses’ ouster.

Several attempts to auction off Mrs. Marcos’ famed jewelry collection have fallen through due to legal wrangling.

Other big-ticket items that the PCGG also plans to sell are the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp.’s physical assets, including rights to franchise for at least P3 billion, and the DWAN Radio for at least P1 billion.

The real properties lined up for bidding are: the 1.7-hectare J. Y. Campos Compound in Baguio City; the 6.4-hectare Independent Realty Corp. reconveyed land in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite; the 5,952-square-meter Banahaw Broadcasting Corp. property in Naga City; a 480-sqm lot in Emerald Court, Caloocan City; the 1,146-sqm Wigwam Compound in Baguio City; the 4.7-hectare Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. property in Bacolod City; three BBC lots in Legazpi City; and three Piedras Petroleum Corp. sites in Mariveles, Bataan.

Lined up for sale in 2014 are two lots in Pangarap Village, Caloocan City, and the 2,885-sqmIRC property on Edsa in Mandaluyong where the PCGG holds office.

The shares of stock to be sold are those in Benguet Consolidated Inc., Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co., Oriental Petroleum and Mining Corp., Radio Phils. Network Inc., Marcventures Holdings Inc., Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp., PAL Holdings Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. preferred shares, Philodrill Corp., Showa United Food Inc., Philippine Oil Geothermal Energy Inc., Trans-Asia Oil and Mineral Corporation, Phil. Overseas Telecommunications Corp., Phil. National Construction Corp., and Puerto Azul Golf and Country Club.

In 2014 the PCGG plans to sell sequestered shares of stocks in Imperial Insurance, Oceanic Wireless Network Inc. and Chemfields Inc.