Ex-CHR chair: Set up trust fund for proceeds of Marcos jewelry auction

MANILA, Philippines — A special trust fund should be established to ensure that the proceeds from the sale of the Marcos jewelry will not be used for corruption, former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) chairperson Loretta Rosales said Friday.

“Yung jewelry kailangan makita yan kung gagawin yan kailangan yung pondo ilagay sa isang special trust fund. Huwag sa general funds ng kongreso kailangan may special trust fund yan and very specific kung san dapat mai-gagastos,” Rosales, who is a martial law victim, said on station dzMM.

(The proceeds from the jewelry should go to a special trust fund. It should not be placed in the general funds of Congress. We need a special trust fund.)

Rosales added that a law is needed to monitor the beneficiaries of the funds.

“Ang nakikita ko dapat ginagabayan ito ng batas para sa ganun hindi ito napupunta sa general [funds] na hindi natin mamomonitor kung san mapupunta. Aba’y katakot takot na graft and corruption ang nangyayari dito,” Rosales said.

(I think the use of the proceeds should be guided by law so it won’t be placed in the general funds where it cannot be monitored. There is massive graft and corruption here.)

The former CHR chair issued the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte approved the auction of the jewelry collection seized from Ilocos Norte Gov. Imelda Marcos and is said to be worth P708.4 million.

However, Duterte did not mention the exact date of the auction.

READ: Duterte OKs auction of P704.8M Marcos jewelry

READ: Duterte gives go signal to sell Marcos jewelry

Rosales also said the proceeds from the jewelry sale should be given to farmers and human rights victims.

In a letter dated Sept. 7, 2018, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) requested the Office of the President to approve its proposal to sell the Marcos’ jewelry or the “Hawaii Collection.”

On Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, quoting Duterte, said they would allow the auction of the jewelry collection confiscated after former dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986. (Editor: Eden Estopace)

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