This article written by Macon Ramos-Araneta one of many reporters for PhilNews.com. The story is about Imelda Marcos jewelries and how the Philippine Government is backing her request as it was not included in the original request to have all things that was taken from the filipino people! How could you NOT include that is rightfully belongs to the filipino people! Read the whole story below…to all my filipino friends, or whatever your nationality, after reading the story, please tell me what you think of it?
By Macon Ramos-Araneta
IN what could be the biggest birthday gift ever, the Office of the Solicitor General now supports the claim of Imelda Marcos, who turned 80 last week, that the government’s forfeiture case against her family never included $7 million worth of jewelry that the state confiscated in 1986.
Mrs. Marcos, who says she is too poor to pay the travel bond when she needs to fly abroad for medical treatment, seeks to reclaim the jewelry.
In a 20-page motion dated June 24, Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, Assistant Solicitor General John Emmanuel Madamba, State Solicitor Magnolia Velez, and Associate Solicitor Moses Florendo confirmed that the so-called Roumeliotes and Hawaii Collections were not covered by Civil Case 0141.
Devanadera, who is also acting justice secretary, had initially balked at her predecessor’s suggestion that the jewelry collections were not covered by the government’s case against the Marcoses.
The Roumeliotes collection, the biggest and most expensive of the three, was seized from Greek national Demetriou Roumeliotes, a friend of the Marcoses, at the Manila International Airport on March 1, 1986. It is still being kept in the Bangko Sentral’s vaults.
The United States Customs Service, meanwhile, confiscated the Hawaii Collection from the Marcoses when they landed in Honolulu after they fled the Philippines at the height of the Edsa People Power Revolt that toppled the Marcos regime.
In the June 24 motion that was sent by post and received by the Sandiganbayan’s First Division on Monday, government lawyers sought a partial summary judgment only over the Malacañang collection.
They pointed out that the anti-graft court had in fact declared that the two more valuable Marcos jewelry collections were not covered by the civil case against the Marcoses.
They insisted that only the set known as the Malacañang Collection worth an estimated $110,055 to $153,089 was mentioned in the ill-gotten-wealth case.
Items in the Malacañang collection were found on Feb. 25, 1986, abandoned by the Marcos family and were turned over to the Central Bank on March 1, 1986.
But the Solicitor General asked the anti-graft court to consider the total value of all the jewelry among other ill-gotten assets already forfeited in favor of the government, particularly since Mrs. Marcos had claimed ownership of the Malacañang and Hawaii collections and had demanded their return.
The solicitor general also invoked the Supreme Court declaration that the lawful income of the Marcoses during their stay in government only amounted to $304,372.43, which “demonstrates manifest and gross disparity” with the value of the jewelry collections alone.
Based on the 1991 valuation of auction house Christie, Manson and Woods International Inc., the Roumeliotes, Malacañang and Hawaii Collections were worth between $5,313,575 and $7,112,879.
I found this editorial from PhilNews.com and was surprised that there are so many foreigners helping the Philippines along with the rest of the world in getting clean air to the islands, at least be able breath clean air; instead of all the pollution that we pollute ourselves. The Philippines is a 3rd world country and it is nice to hear that some expats coming home are helping too. At least some are! This guy actually won an award for his work and I’m glad to say that he’s doing a great job! THANK YOU TIM and everyone involved in getting this country with some clean air! Read his story below…
In 2008 American Tim Bauer received the prestigious Rolex Award for his efforts to reduce the air pollution that envelopes major cities in the Philippines as well as in other Asian countries. For Filipinos returning to Manila from first-world countries in Europe or North America, the grime that envelopes buildings, and structures along the roadway are immediately apparent and stand as a silent yet irrefutable testament as to how polluted this metropolis has become.
Enter Tim Bauer a 32-year-old with a mechanical engineering degree from Colorado State University who along with his colleague Nathan Lorenz, set up shop in Vigan, Ilocos Sur to develop and market a kit that reduces the particulate emissions of two-stroke tricycle engines by roughly 70 percent; carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by 76 per cent; hydrocarbons emissions by 89 per cent; and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 35 per cent.
Bauer, Lorenz and their Filipino counterparts have refitted over 250 tricycles in Vigan and Puerto Princesa, Palawan and now plan to expand to other cities of the archipelago. Roughly 30 percent of the parts used in the kit are produced in the Philippines.
With its exploding population growth and the widespread use of Diesel and two-stroke engines, Bauer and his device couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. The World Bank estimates that each year air pollution in the Philippines causes at least 15,000 deaths with related health costs and loss of earnings amounting to US$19 million and $134 million respectively.
We salute Mr. Bauer and his team for helping cleanup our environment so future generations of Filipinos can lead healthier, happier, and more fulfilled lives than today’s generation.
WOW, this story is so compelling that I had to share it with you. I never knew that there are alot of other foreigners living and working in the Philippines and they also encounter some of the troubles that some of us first came here in the US let alone in another foreign country. Its very nice to find great American friends to the Filipinos. Tim is a journalist author of 4 non-fiction books, an ESL (English) teacher and public speaker. He has written for numerous publication in the US as well as international magazines, newspapers, websites. He holds a B.B.A in Finance as well as a Master’s, he can be reached through his website www.timdaiss.com
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