PCGG head to testify vs Marcos confidante in US

MANILA, Philippines - Officials of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) have been summoned by a US court to testify in the art theft and tax fraud trial against the former social secretary and confidante of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos.

PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista yesterday said he is set to testify in the trial of Vilma Bautista and her nephews on Oct. 7.                 

“For sure, someone from PCGG will testify in the trial, it might be me,” the PCGG head told reporters. “We’re supposed to answer whatever questions they have in respect of what we know.”    

He said the judge from the New York State Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case within the year. 

Ms. Bautista and her two nephews, Chaiyot Jansen Navalaksana and Pongsak Navalaksana, were arrested in New York in November last year after it was discovered they sold three paintings believed to be owned by the Marcoses but which went missing after the end of the dictatorship in 1986.                

The New York District Attorney’s Office charged them with illegally conspiring to possess and sell valuable paintings that they did not own, and keeping the proceeds for themselves and hiding them from tax authorities.      

Aside from conspiracy charges, Marcos’ former confidante and Chaiyot also face a tax fraud case for failing to report the income from the sale of a Monet painting. 

Ms. Bautista was accused of trying to sell three other valuable works: Monet’s “L’glise et La Seine  Vtheuil” (1881), Alfred Sisley’s “Langland Bay” (1887) and Albert Marquet’s “Le Cyprs de Djenan Sidi Said” (1946), also known as “Algerian View.”                 

Monet’s “Le Bassin aux Nymphas” (1899) was sold for $32 million, the PCGG chair said.               

“Our position is these paintings are part and parcel of our missing paintings, therefore should be returned to the Philippines,” he said.  “As far as I am concerned, we have been assured by the (New York District Attorney’s Office) people that we have been dealing with for two years now,” he said.    

“They believe these paintings rightfully belong to the Filipino people,” he added.

Aside from the paintings, the Philippine government is also going after the $15 million seized from the bank account of Ms. Bautista, an apartment in New York worth $3 million to $4 million, and a life insurance amounting to $1 million to $2 million.               

However, the American lawyer of some 10,000 martial law human rights victims has filed manifestation with the New York court to claim proceeds of the seized paintings.