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A cache of personal papers of Ferdinand E. Marcos, releasedyesterday by an official of the new Philippine government, directlyties the former president to the ownership of a Manhattan office building and provides a look at the free-spending lifestyle of the Marcos family.
Among the documents were pages that government officials said came from a steno book kept by the personal secretary of Imelda Marcos listing expenditures for sundry items such as a $2.5-million Michelangelo painting, a $100,000 emerald-and-diamond Cartier bracelet and $10,340 for bed sheets.
And there were notes of payments that apparently refer to the Lindenmere estate on Long Island, one of five properties in the metropolitan area worth an estimated $350 million that are believed to be owned by Marcos.
The documents, including copies of checks drawn on New York banks, were seized from the Malacanang Palace in Manila, where Marcos had lived, and from two suitcases that Marcos brought to Hawaii when he fled the Philippines Feb. 27 with his wife and a retinue of relatives and associates, according to government officials.
Jovito Salonga, head of the Philippine commission charged with recovering what it believes is $10 billion in cash and assets that Marcos acquired with...