Imelda can’t stop jewelry auction — PCGG

An official of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) laughed off yesterday an attempt of former First Lady Imelda Marcos to stop the Bureau of Customs from auctioning off a $13 million jewelry collection belonging to her.

PCGG commissioner Ruben Carranza Jr. told reporters yesterday the move of Mrs. Marcos to ask the Sandiganbayan to stop the auction was meant to delay the hearing on her family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth.

"Her petition is not meant to stop the sale of the jewelry but to delay the resolution of the case," he said.

The Customs bureau is set to put the jewelry on public sale. The collection was seized from Greek national Demetrious Roumeliotes, said to be a friend of Mrs. Marcos, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as he was leaving the country three days after the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship.

In her petition, Mrs. Marcos said she had just learned that the collection included a P 2.2 million white gold necklace with a large emerald cabochon pendant.

The emerald pendant belongs to her, she added. – Sheila Crisostomo>