Where is Imelda’s Francis Bacon painting?

Sometimes I sit around flicking the TV remote to whatever channel or program I might fancy. Imagine my surprise when I came across a program showing Imelda, mike in hand berating PCGG officials sitting in front of her and waving documents about her wealth. I did not quite get what she was haranguing about but knowing her and previous occasions, she is aggrieved that her wealth is being taken away from her. She still does not get it.

This is what is wrong with the picture. Both Imelda and the government, whoever is in power, despite all that has been said and done have never really come to grips with what happened during the Marcos years when the family amassed a fortune beyond anything they could have earned legitimately. It came to be known as the Marcos hidden billions but to this day only a few millions have come to light. Why?

Imelda’s own statements give better clues than the legalese spouted by lawyers. In one of the many interviews Imelda gave after Ninoy’s assassination, she said, ‘all I asked was for him to wait, just a few more years, bakit naman siya hindi nakaantay?’. I saw the point she was driving at during the New York trial where I was government spokesperson. After the Dovie Beams affair, Imelda is said to have gone on a shopping binge worthy of the image Western fashion and women’s magazines gave her as ‘one of the richest women in the world.’

In the New York trial, it came to light that she had bought several fabulous skyscrapers, topped by the Crown Building which was more a relic than a functioning one that would have cost millions to refurbish and maintain. And that was not all – the buildings would be purchased through some front money and heavily mortgaged. Had Ninoy not insisted on coming home, she had it all planned to truly be world-class rich, in the company of the likes of wealthy Doris Duke and others like George Hamilton & Co who may not be wealthy but who move in the irresistible charmed circle Imelda longed to belong.

It is not possible to understand why Ninoy was assassinated in broad daylight with the world’s press watching without this background of Imelda’s acquisitiveness and taste for power. The New York press gave the most fitting epitaph for Imelda "she loved to shop." She was so taken in by what glossy magazines portray as life of the rich and famous – designer labels, a Kensington flat in London, a villa in the outskirts of Rome, multi-million dollar buildings in New York, impressionist paintings, antique silver collection etc. etc. The shopping list is indeed long.

Recently, I read in the International Herald Tribune that Francis Bacon’s "Self-portraits of the artist as a mortal man" was on exhibit for the first time. Imelda had art connoisseur friends who introduced her to Francis Bacon. She did buy one at the time and it was reportedly displayed in the Philippine Embassy. The item in IHT says the one currently on exhibit is "a late Francis Bacon self-portrait triptych from a period when the artist was becoming increasingly anxious about his own mortality." It adds that the painting is on display in Britain for the first time since it was painted a quarter of a century ago. Those who saw the painting in the Philippine Embassy in Palace Green said it was a self-portrait by Francis Bacon. "The work was bought directly from the artist by a friend two years after it was painted and had never been seen in public until the unnamed owner finally decided to sell." Could this be the same painting? It would be interesting to know.

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As a newly appointed member of the EDSA People Power Commission, I attended the meeting for the commemoration of the 23rd anniversary of Ninoy’s assassination. It was good to hear the hero’s ebullient sister, Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara, reminding the group that we must try to distinguish between the two events Ninoy’s assassination in 1983 and the peaceful EDSA people power revolution which followed in 1986. The EDSA people power revolution may have been sparked by Ninoy’s assassination but it would require different perspectives to make people understand the distinction.

At the time of his assassination, Ninoy did not have the friends and allies that later swarmed Cory Aquino’s camp when she literally rode to the crest of victory while nestling on his ashes. Ninoy was the lonely exile, the dreamer, the President we never had. But as STAR publisher Max is fond of saying, better to be a hero than to be President. Scanning through a list of invitees for the wreath-laying ceremony at 8 a.m. on Roxas Blvd and P. Burgos St (near Manila Hotel), Lupita was like a voice of conscience telling us – no, no, not that one, he’s EDSA or they were not with Ninoy during his struggle.

She did not quite say it but her message was clear – there were many who came to EDSA to join a victory they had not fought for. Max may be happy to know that Lupita singled him out among those who should be invited and asked to speak because he and Ninoy were really friends and subsequently, became companions in jail. Max has stories to tell to enable us to relive those memories and hopefully understand what Ninoy lived and died for, which is, after all, the point of commemoration.

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Although I was not in the ABAC meeting in Cebu, my son, Eduardo Pedrosa, secretary general for PECC (Pacific Economic Cooperation Council), who lives in Singapore, was. He says it was a good meeting between businessmen, experts and policy makers. If anything, he said, those who attended had the privilege to listen personally to Jagdish Bhagwati, the acknowledged globalization expert. He thrust the book In Defense of Globalization in my hand and said "Here, read this. That will tell you more about what the meeting was all about than I can really tell you." How could I argue?

So I now have the book which has been described by George Akerlof, Nobel Laureate in Economics as "the book that everyone has been waiting for". Bhagwati considers the arguments of the anti-globalization movement and show the peril they do to world development.

From the Economist: "Bhagwati has written an outstandingly effective book – his best popular work to date. Until further notice In Defence of Globalization becomes the standard general-interest reference, the intelligent layman’s handbook, on global economic integration. It has two particular virtues. The first is that it is free of gimmicks in content and structure. Its other great virtue, aside from this refreshingly straightforward approach, is that it takes anti-globalist arguments seriously."

Richard Cooper of Foreign Affairs: Bhagwati combines the hard-nosed perspective of a liberal on trade and investment with the soft-hearted sensitivities of a social democrat on poverty and human welfare. This book offers a cogent, erudite, and, indeed, enjoyable discussion of economic globalization and its discontents." Ok, ok, I’ll read it.

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My e-mail is [email protected]