Diamonds may not be forever, but former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos isn't ready to see hers sold off quite yet.
The widow of Ferdinand Marcos, once infamous for her enormous shoe collection, said she will go to court to block the Philippines government from auctioning off her jewelry in November.
The gems, including a 37.5-carat diamond, were seized by the government shortly after the bloodless coup in 1986 that ended their extravagant term in power, and Manila believes they could fetch as much as US$10 million dollars when they go on the block.
"Our lawyers are sending notices to Christie's, Sotheby's and all these international auction houses because this placement can't be sold," the 76-year-old said in an interview.
"They would be endangering their clients and buyers," she said without elaborating.
The government says the jewels were bought with money embezzled from the national treasury, but Marcos rejects the claim and says the jewels are all hers -- and that authorities had no right to take them.
"Some of this jewelry are heirlooms of my family," she said. "I have not been convicted for corruption anywhere."
But Ricardo Abcede from the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which is conducting a global search for the Marcos fortune, said the jewels were legally seized by US and Philippines customs authorities.
"There are no legal impediments to the auction," he said on local television, adding that the Supreme Court had upheld the seizure.
Around 90 percent were taken from a Marcos courier who tried to smuggle them ouf of the country and another set was taken by US customs police when they arrived in Hawaii to begin a life in exile after Marcos was toppled, he said.
Abcede said Christie's and Sotheby's experts would visit Manila tomorrow to appraise the jewels.
"There is so much fascination not only in this country but all over the world [for the Marcos jewels], and not only by women. It could fetch an even higher price."
The government says the gems are being held in the vaults of the central bank. Imelda Marcos says that when the government took them 19 years ago, they were in "32 to 34" Louis Vuitton cases.
Marcos is also pressing the government to allow the burial of her husband's remains in the country's National Heroes Cemetery in the capital, and said supporters had gathered a million signatures in favor of the plan.
After his death in 1989 Ferdinand Marcos's body was preserved and kept in an air-conditioned glass case at the family home in the northern town of Batac. The government had refused to allow a burial at the Manila cemetery.
His widow said supporters plan to present the signatures to Arroyo.
"I respect her. From day one she has never been against the burial of Marcos," Imelda Marcos said, saying it was her advisers who oppose giving him a hero's burial.
"The timing will eventually depend on the president. But I know that it will come," she said. "I hope it will be sooner because justice delayed is justice denied. It's about time."
But she rejected press speculation that Arroyo would allow the burial in exchange for the Marcos daughter, legislator Imee Marcos, abandoning her calls for Arroyo's impeachment.
Imee left the country when Congress voted to kill the impeachment case last week. The daughter later said she was prevailed upon by her mother, but rejected allegations that she sold out to Arroyo. Imelda Marcos said she persuaded her daughter to shun planned street protests by the opposition following the defeat of the impeachment case, saying she did not want her daughter to find common cause with leftist agitators.
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