To raise public awareness on the two-decade plunder of the Marcoses during Martial Law, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has launched an online exhibit of selected pieces of the Hawaii jewelry collection ? one of the three massive jewelry collections hoarded by Marcoses.
The collection was seized by the US Bureau of Customs upon the Marcoses? arrival in Hawaii in 1986, and is currently stored at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) under the PCGG’s custody.
Captioned as the “Virtual Jewelry Exhibit, A Story of Excesses: What could have fuelled a nation?s development,” the PCGG said it will be posting selected jewelry items to remind the present generation of the excesses and extravagance of the Marcoses? during their two-decade dictatorship.
Through this online exhibit of the family?s collection of diamonds, gold, even tiaras, the PCGG said it hopes that the youth can visualize how the Marcoses abused government ? the people?s ? funds.
In the exhibit, there is also a US dollar to peso exchange rate to show the equivalent values of these precious stones vis-a-vis what it could have financed in terms of education, health, agrarian reform, alleviation of poverty and other pertinent development programs of the government.
The virtual jewelry exhibit can be viewed at Facebook and Twitter.