PCGG: 30 masters’ paintings missing

Pierre Auguste Renoir, Henri Matisse, Pieter Brueghel. Their masterpieces were part of the priceless art collection amassed by the Marcoses during their years in power.

Now more than 30 paintings of the old masters are missing, and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) wants the heirs of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to account for them.

The paintings, which used to be displayed at Malacañang Palace, were bought by the Marcoses or given to them as gifts in the 20 years they ruled the country. The PCGG said the works of art are technically the property of the Philippines and the Filipino people.

"Those paintings were supposedly to be turned over to the National Museum," said PCGG commissioner Ruben Carranza. "But no one could say why, how and when they vanished."

Carranza explained that on June 26, 1992, then PCGG Chairman David Castro struck a deal with former First Lady Imelda Marcos for the return of the paintings.

He said Marcos’ widow agreed to turn over the paintings to the PCGG in exchange for a possible compromise deal on the billions of pesos her family allegedly stashed in foreign banks after they left Malacañang in 1986 at the height of the people power revolt that toppled Marcos.

"The return of the paintings was part of an amicable settlement of all the Marcoses’ civil and criminal cases pending before the courts here and abroad," Carranza said. "But no one knows what happened. Maybe the paintings are still in the possession of Imelda, maybe not."

The paintings, the PCGG commissioner said, included Renoir’s Jeunes File Au Chian , Matisse’s Head of a Woman of Lorette, Jan Steen’s Merrymaking in a Dutch Garden and Pieter Brueghel’s Adoration of the Magi.

He added that 21 paintings from the Granda Moses collection, several from the Metropolitan Museum, and a number of works of local artists were among those missing.

Carranza said the PCGG will seek the assistance of the Arts Registry in the United States to prevent the possibility of the paintings being sold in public auctions. "Auctioneers always consult the Arts Registry because they also do not want to sell stolen artworks," he said.