Nothing ‘political’ about Arroyo’s decision to stop Imelda’s jewelry auction

There is nothing “political" about President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s decision to stop the auction of former First Lady Imelda Marcos’ sequestered sets of jewelry, the Palace said on Friday. Arroyo’s order to postpone the auction was not a move to get Marcos’ vote for House speaker, deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. Both Marcos and Arroyo will sit as representatives in the 15th Congress. “Kapag tinuloy, sasabihin ng tao para kumita sa pagbenta. Kapag pinostpone, sasabihin naman para kuhanin ang pabor ng mga Marcos. Ano ba ang gusto ninyong gawin ng Pangulo," he said. (If the auction proceeds, people will say that she will earn from the sale. If it is postponed, people will say that it was done to favor the Marcoses. What should they want the President to do?) Arroyo, said to be the ruling party Lakas-Kampi-CMD’s bet as next House speaker, won as congresswoman of the second district of Pampanga, while Marcos won as representative of the second district of Ilocos Norte. Olivar maintained that the President’s choice to leave it to her successor to decide on the final disposition of the jewelry sets was for “the best interest of the country." He likewise said that as far as he knows, Arroyo and Marcos have never talked after the elections — proof that there is nothing “political" about the President’s move to postpone the auction. “There is no reason for them to talk. There is no issue about the jewelry sets. If there are any issues, then they should be coursed through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG)," he said. Arroyo on Thursday stopped the PCGG from auctioning off Marcos’ jewelry sets, saying the matter is “best left to the incoming administration." PCGG commissioner Ricardo Abcede earlier made public the commission's plan to auction off the jewels, but Chairman Camilo Sabio later said he has not sanctioned any planned sale of the sequestered ornaments. The PCGG was the very first agency created by the administration of Corazon C. Aquino in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten wealth of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos, his relatives, cronies and associates. The government confiscated three sets of the First Lady's jewelry after the Marcoses fled to Hawaii at the height of the People Power uprising in February 1986. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV