Spotted on Imelda Marcos’s wall, the ‘missing’ Picasso worth £125million
A ‘MISSING’ Picasso painting is thought to have been seen at the home of the wife of the former dictator of the Philippines.
The lost piece, Reclining Woman VI, was spotted by sharp-eyed viewers when Imelda Marcos appeared on local TV celebrating her son’s presidential election victory on Monday.
It is unclear if the painting is authentic or a replica.
Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr, 64, won the vote by a landslide despite his links to corruption, murder and censorship – and the widespread human rights abuses under his father Ferdinand’s brutal 20-year reign.
The artwork, apparently hung on the living room wall of 92-year-old Mrs Marcos, is one of several paintings ordered to be seized from the Marcos family in 2014.
During his rule, Ferdinand Marcos Sr is believed to have amassed up to £8billion by plundering the national coffers – plunging the Philippines into debt.
He was deposed in 1986 but the family moved the money overseas and spent it on artwork, jewellery and clothes. Marcos Sr died in 1989. A Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) was set up in 1986 to recover the ill-gotten funds.
Ferdinand Jr’s election will mean he has the power to appoint commissioners on the body, raising fears that efforts to retrieve the plundered money will be thwarted.
The painting was spotted in a 2019 documentary about Mrs Marcos, The Kingmaker, but it was missing from her home in Makati City when officials from the PCGG subsequently visited. Mrs Marcos is also currently appealing against a 2018 criminal conviction on seven corruption charges.
Former PCGG chief Andy Bautista said the Picasso painting would be worth about £125million. ‘We don’t know about the quality of this painting, but Pablo Picasso is a master of painting, and this is a very valuable piece,’ he said.
He called on the current PCGG officials and the country’s solicitor-general to look into the new sighting, adding: ‘Please seize it while there is still time.’
Amnesty International said at least 3,240 were killed, 34,000 were tortured, and 70,000 were jailed during the reign of Ferdinand Sr.