The Artist Abroad
She danced while a nation burnt
By Luis H. Francia
Was it Oscar Wilde who quipped that one thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about?
Was it Oscar Wilde who quipped that one thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about?
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the agency tasked to hunt and recover the Marcos ill-gotten assets, only learned of the alleged offshore trust of Ilocos Gov. Imee Marcos Manotoc and her sons in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) from the report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).
While ill-gotten-wealth cases against the Marcoses and their cronies have been languishing in Philippine courts the past 26 years, a case involving part of the Marcos loot in the United States should be resolved within the year.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said Wednesday it had been cooperating with the New York District Attorney’s (NYDA) Office since the middle of last year in connection with the investigation of Vilma Bautista.
The former personal secretary to Imelda Marcos was charged Tuesday in New York in an alleged conspiracy to sell a Monet painting that had belonged to the former first lady.
US authorities have seized a fresh cache of dollars, prime New York properties and paintings worth as much as P1 billion believed to be part of the hidden wealth plundered by Ferdinand Marcos during his two-decade rule, the Philippine Daily Inquirer learned Tuesday.
Vilma Bautista served as a personal and confidential secretary of then First Lady Imelda Marcos. She also worked as consular official in the Philippine Mission to the United Nations from 1966 to 1986.
Victims of human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship have scored a victory in their long quest to get compensation from the Marcos estate.
Ilocos Norte Rep. and former First Lady Imelda Marcos has sought the Sandiganbayan’s permission to fly to China where she had been invited to speak before a group of women.
It certainly could happen. They were pretty close, after all. And years or maybe even just months from now, a recording or transcript of the phone call between Libya and Manila could surface.
