S150-M Marcos jewelry collections posibleng’di na isubasta ng PCGG
by : Ryan Ponce Pacpaco/Journal Online, Philippines
POSIBLENG hindi na isubasta ng Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) ang Marcos jewelry collections na tinatayang nagkakaha-laga ng $10 milyon hang-gang $150 milyon upang lalong makuha ang loob ni dating Unang Ginang Imelda Marcos na puma-sok sa ‘compromise agree-ment’ at tapusin ang halos dalawang dekadang li-tigasyon.
Sa kanyang pagtungo sa Sandiganbayan kamaka-ilan, sinabi ni PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede na ginagawa nila ang lahat para tapusin na ang matagal na legal na bakbakan sa pamilya Marcos na ginastusan na rin ng malaking halaga ng salapi.
Sinimulan na noong na-karaang taon ng Sotheby’s and Christie’s ang “ap-praisal†sa “Marcos je-welry†sa kabila ng isinu-miteng petisyon ni Gng. Marcos sa Manila Regio-nal Trial Court para pigi-lan ang planong pagbe-benta ng mga alahas na nasa vaults ng Central Bank.
Naniniwala si Abcede sa kahalagahan na isama sa negosasyon ang mga alahas upang maisaayos ang usapan kay Atty. Rolando Sison, abogado ni Gng. Marcos upang maka-tipid na rin ang pamaha-laan sa gastos sa legal na bakbakan.
“The jewels are part of the negotiations. They will be among the rest of the Marcos assets that will be considered in our dis-cussions, so yes, there is a possibility that the auction will not happen,†ani Abcede.
Idinagdag ni Abcede ang pahayag na: “That is what the PCGG is asking Atty. Sison to produce, the list of Marcos properties abroad. We want to know everything, to account for every single piece of Marcos asset out there. I just want to bring closure to this matter once and for all.â€
Magugunitang mayro-ong tatlong klasipikasyon ang Marcos jewels, kabi-lang dito ang pinakamahal na Roumeliotes Collection na tinatayang kumaka-tawan sa 90 porsiyento ng kabuuang halaga.
Ipinangalan ang pina-kamahal na koleksiyon ng mga alahas kay Demetriou Roumeliotes, isang Greek national at sinasabing kaibigan ni Gng. Marcos na nagtangkang ipuslit pa-labas ng bansa ang jewels noong Marso 1986 kung hindi nadiskubre ng mga opisyal ng Customs sa da-ting Manila International Airport.
People’s Taliba
5/8/2006 20:34 PM
May 8th, 2006
Jewelry drawer opens up memories
Danbury News Times, CT
Bobbie Siegle
Last fall I was seized by a sudden fit of downsizing. During the course of this, I tackled the drawers in my elegant Service Merchandise jewelry chest.
It was quite a chore, as it turned out, and I spent the better part of a day going through 40-odd years of stuff and putting things in neat little plastic bags to donate to a nearby church bazaar.
Ah, the memories!
First I discarded all the broken stuff, like the lavender, pink and blue beads that had been just smashing with that purple wool dress I bought in 1959.
Then went the many mismatched earrings. There’s always a hope the missing one will turn up. But I had been waiting 14 years to discover the mate to that red origami bird hoop, among dozens of others, and it was time to give it up.
There were many pieces I had to save. The little marcasite elephant pin was the first gift I ever received from the teen-aged boy I would later marry. And it goes very nicely with the bracelet my daughter-in-law gave me for Christmas many years ago.
The millefiori brooch I bought at an antique show in Binghamton maybe 30 years ago is lovely. Of course I never wear it, because the pin-part is very thick and tends to leave nasty holes in clothing. But it’s still appealing. Maybe I’ll get it fixed.
I have many wonderful things my mother-in-law has given me over the years: the wooden cross necklace from Jerusalem, the little pink Wedgwood pendant, the fabulous scarab pin that belonged to her mother, a really pretty jade bracelet — treasures, all of them.
I had to keep the huge yellow glass ring I bought at a Sarah Coventry party in 1967. (Do people still have Sarah Coventry parties?) No reason to save it, really — I just like it. I might even wear it some day.
And the wooden pin and single earring hand-carved by my uncle probably 50 years ago. (The other earring might show up some day …)
I kept the shell-and-bead necklace my son made for me in second grade, a tarnished silver brooch that was my mother’s, a blue Wedgwood pin that was HER mother’s, and a plastic holly pin (Woolworth’s) somebody I liked gave me in 1959.
It was also necessary, I felt, to save the Orange plastic pin reading “SYRACUSE MOM.” After all, we put two kids through that university, and I might need to flaunt it some day.
And I need the “Temporarily Irish” badge I pull out on St. Patrick’s Day.
I saved my Hulk Hogan key chain — although what it was doing mixed in with jewelry I don’t know — and a weird carved Egyptian necklace my aunt gave me once. (I don’t know what it’s made of, but I remember somebody lit a match under it once to see if it would melt, and it didn’t. So it isn’t plastic.)
Basic earrings had to stay, including the little wooden bluebirds from Finland, the good pearl ones, and the ones made from gold dust I panned myself (with a lot of help) in Alaska.
I kept all my mother’s rings.
That left about 80 pounds of things I didn’t need any more, like the jewelry bought to match specific outfits and then never used again.
Out went the whimsical little clay pins shaped like body parts acquired from a catalog of strange stuff. (I don’t know whatever made me think I would want to wear colorful adrenal glands or intestines.)
Away with the shoe buckles (I don’t wear high heels any more, and they’d look pretty silly on sneakers). No need for barrettes at my stage of life and hair.
And dozens of chains, strings of beads and pendants were attractive but never used, as I always wear the gold chain with my six grandchildren’s birthstones on it.
I rejected several pins and brooches, including a cow angel, silver-plated brontosaurus, penguin with rhinestone eyes, pewter bust of Queen Victoria, Guatemalan worry dolls, plaid plastic heart, and enameled parrot. I don’t remember ever wearing any of them. (Or even wanting to.)
More than 100 pairs of earrings didn’t make the cut. I no longer feel the need to wear dangling Yankee ping-pong balls, large purple disks with lizards, or tiny, cutesy ladybugs, daisies and bumblebees.
Some earrings I was too old for, some my neck is too short to accommodate attractively, and some were just too big and heavy for my delicate little lobes. (I remember sitting behind an old lady long ago who had holes in her earlobes the size of dimes — it made quite an impression.)
I got rid of practically everything with rhinestones, although I kept just a few in case we ever join the elite. At the moment I’m more the wood and plastic type.
I feel very well-organized right now, at least where my jewelry is concerned. Although I’m going to be pretty upset if that other red origami bird earring ever reappears.
May 8th, 2006
From jewelry to funnel cake, fest offers fun
By BROOKE J. SHERMAN
Star-Gazette
ATHENS - Despite the clouds and wayward raindrops, hundreds filed through the annual Athens ArtsFest on Saturday, taking in the sights, sounds and smells.
Vendor Joe Kane sat under his tent in the field outside Rowe Junior High School, covered from head to toe in a warm sleeping bag, with only his Panama hat and sunglasses peering from the covers.
“We’re cold, but we’re here,†he said with a laugh. “It’s so cold, people don’t even want to stop and look.â€
But some people did stop and carried their purchases about with joy, like Rose Mint of Waverly.
“I’m a jewelry person, and I like unique things,†she explained as she showed off her purchases from two jewelry vendors.
Mint visits the ArtsFest every year and marveled at how it continues to grow.
“I love it. It gets better and better every year,†she said.
Tom Blumer, with Two Sisters, a jewelry design vendor, said the “Remember Mother’s Day†signs were helping people consider gifts for moms for Mother’s Day next weekend.
“There are a lot of gifts being bought,†he said.
There was also a lot to entertain the young ones, such as Brock Slatterly, 4, who was busy getting his face painted with the Batman symbol.
His sister, Rachael Slatterly, 13, watched and said she looks forward to the festival for the funnel cake.
Jeannine Duncan, a teacher at Rowe Junior High, has volunteered with the festival for several years.
She paused briefly Saturday, as she sped from tent to tent giving vendors breaks, to add another layer of clothing and wrap a blanket around her shoulders to keep warm.
“I think, looking at the parking lot, that we’re doing fairly well, despite the cold and clouds,†she said.
May 8th, 2006
