To raise public awareness on the two-decade plunder of the Marcoses during martial law, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) recently launched an online exhibit of selected pieces of Hawaii jewelry collection, one of the three massive jewelry collections hoarded by Marcoses. This collection was seized by the US Bureau of Customs upon the Marcoses’ arrival in Hawaii in 1986, currently stored at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and under the Commission’s custody.

Captioned as the “Virtual Jewelry Exhibit, A Story of Excesses: What could have fuelled a nation’s development,” the PCGG will be posting selected jewelry items to show and remind the present generation of the excesses and extravagance of the Marcoses’ in their two-decade dictatorship.

The Commission believes that it is its duty to remind Filipinos, especially the youth of the real history. Through this online exhibit of the family’s collection of diamonds, gold, even tiaras, the PCGG hopes that the youth can visualize how the Marcoses abused the government coffers, part of history which is not in the history books.

Along with descriptions of the ill-gotten gems, the PCGG also used 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.

As part of the PCGG’s 30th anniversary yearlong commemoration, the Commission will also launch a series of activities aimed at teaching the lessons of martial law and of the EDSA People Power Revolution, one of which is the nationwide Good Governance Caravan, an exhibit and forum to a number of universities all over the country to give the youth the opportunity to hear first-hand the dark stories of the Martial Law, the excesses of the Marcos family and cronies, and at present, the efforts of the Commission to recover these ill-gotten wealth and also the tasks of the PCGG in its continuing quest to promote good government.

It is with the hope that the youth who are too young to have lived or endured the struggles during the dictatorship or those who have comfortably forgotten shall once again relive the fire that burned in the hearts of the Filipino people who marched in EDSA, who have desperately but peacefully wanted change. So that young and old can say with knowledge or conviction, Never again!

The PCGG believes that such activities will enlighten the post-EDSA generation of the relevance of the work of the Commission as well as the responsibility of every citizen in combating corruption and contributing to good governance.

VISIT THE VIRTUAL JEWELRY EXHIBIT HERE:

FACEBOOK:          http://facebook.com/PCGGofficial

TWITTER:              http://twitter.com/TheNewPCGG