PCGG to enforce compromise deal with Imelda on mas

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is pursuing a compromise agreement with the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos involving millions of dollars worth of Old Masters’ paintings.

PCGG chairman Haydee Yorac said the agreement, which was signed in 1992 by Marcos’ widow Imelda and then PCGG head David Castro, remains binding.

"It seems no steps were taken by subsequent leaders of the PCGG to enforce this agreement," Yorac said, noting that the PCGG’s failure to recover more than 30 rare paintings remains a puzzle to her. "We don’t know if it was a matter of omission, forgetfulness or negligence," she said.

Yorac pointed out that the agreement which can be considered a contract cannot be altered without the consent of the Marcoses.

The paintings the PCGG wanted to seize include Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Jeune Fille au chian, Jan Steen’s Merrymaking in a Dutch Garden, Pieter Brueghel’s Adoration of the Magi, Dirk Hal’s Interior with Musicians, the School of William Hogart’s Portrait of a Young Girl with Straw Hat, and the collection of artworks of Grandma Moses.

These expensive works used to adorn Malacañang Palace and the mansions of the Marcoses in the country and abroad during the dictator’s 20-year regime. Each of the paintings is estimated to be worth $1 million.

Yorac, however, complained that the compromise agreement was "badly crafted," "terrible," and something she would not write. She refused to reveal details of the deal except that Mrs. Marcos had allegedly agreed to turn over her collection of paintings to the National Museum while the issue of their ownership is being resolved in court.

Yorac added that the deal does not provide for the dropping of civil and criminal charges against the Marcos family.

"The PCGG and Mrs Marcos have mutually expressed their intent to amicably settle. This is one of the steps they took towards a possible settlement," she said.

The Marcos family has reportedly sent feelers to the PCGG for a possible compromise deal concerning their assets. But Yorac said the agency is not treating those feelers seriously.

"Many come here saying they have this and that information. We will deal with this very strictly, first because there are a lot of fools out there and second, because there are a lot of wackos," she said.

The PCGG has been pursuing the Marcoses’ alleged ill-gotten wealth for 15 years now. It has filed numerous civil and criminal suits in local and foreign courts to recover the millions of dollars the family allegedly stole from government coffers.

As for the paintings, Yorac said the PCGG is examining 26 boxes of documents to find clues to the paintings whereabouts. She said after the documents have been processed, the agency would start working for the recovery of the artworks.

"We are going to try to enforce this agreement because the paintings are of substantive value and they belong to the Filipino people," she said.