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Son of ex-general Garcia lives in style despite US house arrest


He may be under house arrest and his whole family may be facing plunder charges, but none of these could strip off the Gucci jacket, Yves Saint Laurent boots, plush apartment, and lavish lifestyle of Timothy Mark Garcia. Garcia, the son of detained former Armed Forces of the Philippines comptroller Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia, is still living it up in New York as a publicist for Marc by Marc Jacobs. In a September 11 blog entry on the popular news and commentary site The Daily Beast, Peter Davis said the younger Garcia was clad "head-to-toe" in designer clothes during the interview. Davis listed the items Garcia wore as follows: "a supple caramel leather Alessandro dell’Acqua jacket, Alexander McQueen jeans, a thin white LnA tee shirt and YSL boots. His wrists are adorned with a big Cartier gold and silver Tank watch, a Cartier Love bracelet, a white enamel Hermes bangle and a $1000 dollar large gold plated spiked Hermes cuff called the Collier de Chien."

LIVING IT UP. A US tabloid wrote about Timothy Mark Garcia, son of former AFP comptroller Carlos Garcia. Despite being under house arrest, Garcia continues living the high life in New York. Image grabbed from thedailybeast.com
Still, Garcia laments wearing an ankle bracelet the US government uses to monitor his movements while under house arrest that "definitely dampers his glamorous lifestyle." "It’s uncomfortable. It hurts when I run at the gym…I can’t even wear my knee high croc boots by Sergio Rossi for the fall. I had to make adjustments with my wardrobe," Davis quoted Garcia as saying. Garcia has a curfew of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is not allowed to leave his upscale Trump Plaza apartment on weekends. He orders food from "Serafina and Freds, and the restaurant at Barneys." Garcia, 25, is the youngest son of Carlos and Clarita Garcia. Carlos, a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1971, is serving a two-year jail sentence in the Philippines for perjury and failure to explain "significant discrepancies of his legitimate reported income." Clarita has been under house arrest after posting a $20,000 cash bond last June. She is facing extradition proceedings for plunder along with her sons, Timothy Mark, Ian Carl, 30, and Juan Paulo, 27. Also last June, the three sons were granted temporary liberty by a US Court after posting $1-million bail bond each. The Garcia family is facing plunder charges for their unexplained wealth, which is estimated at P303-million (roughly $6.2-million). Plunder carries a penalty of 30 years to life in prison. New York apartment
AT PARK AVENUE.In his ritzy apartment, Garcia reveals the monitoring device strapped to his ankle. The plastic black box is the size of a pack of cigarettes. Image grabbed from thedailybeast.com
Davis wrote that Timothy Mark Garcia’s plush one-bedroom apartment at Park Avenue in New York was bought in 2004 for $765,000. His bedroom has two flat-screen television sets, six orange Hermes boxes, three Louis Vuitton suitcases filled with clothes, and six stuffed YSL garment bags. "I’m lacking in closet space," Garcia was quoted as saying. For the interview, he picks a black Gucci leather jacket supposedly worn by pop icon Madonna. The article also said that Garcia has a white mohair Gucci dog bed for his five-year old Yorkshire Terrier named Cartier. "On the kitchen table, two laptops are open and towers of fashion magazines, costume jewelry, and beauty products are everywhere," Davis writes. Last April, Garcia almost gave up the apartment to authorities. But he protested, maintaining that his father is innocent. "I knew that it was all bull****. I was like, ‘No! I will never waver in the conviction of my father’s innocence and doing that would just hurt my father’s case,’" Garcia said. The article says the government (it was not clear whether it was the United States or Philippine government) argues that part of the $6.2-million allegedly plundered by the Garcias was used to purchase the apartment. 95 days in detention In the interview with Davis, Garcia likewise talked about the days he spent in detention at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, and later on, at a special housing unit he described as a "doorway to hell." Garcia was arrested last March and stayed in jail for 95 days. "It’s life altering. Imagine living a comfortable lifestyle and then all of a sudden you’re forced to coexist with armed robbers, organized crime people and people who sell drugs. The cream of the criminal crop," Garcia says. He added: "I was in an orange jumpsuit and then after a month, they change it to khaki. I will never wear a jumpsuit in my life. The thought of that jumpsuit just makes me cringe." After posting a $1-million bail last June, Garcia was offered the job as Marc Jacobs’ publicist. The fashion house knew about his stint in prison only after another US tabloid New York Post broke the story that Marc Jacobs’ publicist was sporting a different kind of ornament – a house arrest-monitoring ankle bracelet. Despite New York Post’s story, Garcia says that he was "fortunate that no one (at Marc Jacobs) cares and if anything, they are very, very compassionate to my situation." Readers protest vs Davis’ piece Davis’ article on Garcia’s lifestyle did not sit well with some angry readers. "My good lord, I could not even articulate how disgusted I am by this article, or, to be more accurate, by this animal. His father was a mere major general in an impoverished country where a college teacher earns $300.00 a month, and here's a family who can afford all these luxuries," wrote a reader named “moqueuo." "As the butterfly son wails over his lost little freedom, an ankle monitor by his branded leather boots, soldiers of the Philippine army (are) fighting in wet and dangerous jungles…with their worn out boots, dying to help stop terrorists who are part of the group who destroyed your World Trade Center eight years ago," wrote a certain FlipNFlip. "People are dying here (Philippines) because money needed to feed and care for people here have to give it up because of the frivolous lifestyle of this Tim Garcia," FlipNFlip added. "Pathetic story, pathetic excuse for a man, pathetic family. If Peter Davis is trying to develop a sympathetic character in the form of this guy, Tim Garcia, he's missed completely. But if he's revealing the repulsive self-indulgences and wallowing of a depressing little man, well, he succeeded," read a comment by a certain Edmond Dantes. - GMANews.TV
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