MANILA to former first lady Imelda Marcos that was seized after her husband was deposed from the presidency in 1986.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said on Monday that the government had not taken legal action to claim ownership of the jewellery.
"Evidently, Mrs. Marcos remains to be the legitimate owner of said prized jewellery," he said in a letter to the Presidential Commission on Good Government, the anti-graft agency, adding it was also not proved the items were ill-gotten.
Gonzalez said the state agency which aims to recover about $10 billion worth of alleged ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family failed to file a criminal or civil suit to claim the jewellery.
In 2006, the government tried to auction the jewellery collection, estimated to be worth 15 billion pesos , which has been kept in a vault at the Philippines' central bank since 1990.
Marcos, famous for her huge collection of shoes, jewellery and jetsetting lifestyle, went to a local court to stop the sale, arguing the gems were not acquired illegally using public funds.
"Thank God that after more than 23 years of relentless persecution and deprivation initiated by the government in 1986, President Gloria Arroyo's government has now started efforts for the Marcos' truth and justice to prevail," Marcos said in a statement issued through a spokeswoman.
"Many of those jewellery pieces were intended for religious images, like tiaras for the Blessed Virgin Mary."
The jewellery collections were seized at Malacanang Palace when the Marcoses fled the country in February 1986 after the dictator was toppled by a civilian-backed army coup.
Another set of jewellery was seized by U.S. authorities when the Marcoses settled in Hawaii, where the strongman died in 1989.
Imelda returned in the early 1990s and sought the presidency in 1992 but was defeated. She later won a congressional seat but gave it up after serving one three-year term.
Human rights advocates Rosetta Ann Rosales and Frank Chavez told reporters they would go to court to stop the government from returning the jewellery to the Marcoses, arguing about 10,000 victims of rights victims under Marcos' 20-year iron rule are still awaiting court-imposed compensation.
In the space of a few minutes and a few notes, unemployed Scottish charity worker Susan Boyle won over 3,000 fans. In the space of a few days and YouTube, she has grabbed the attention of millions.
And she also reportedly has A-list fans such as Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.
She didn't play or dress the part of a star on reality TV show "Britain's Got Talent," but within seconds of beginning to sing, the auditorium knew she was one.
Boyle, 47, told the show she had never been married or kissed, and lives in Scotland with her cat, Pebbles.
She still lives in her childhood home in Blackburn, West Lothian, and believes a promise to her mother, Bridget, who died at 91 in 2007, got her on the TV show.
The town, in northeast Scotland, is a former cotton and mining center that now attracts commuters to nearby Aberdeen, the key city for the region's North Sea oil industry.
"I wanted to fulfill a wish to my mother that I wanted to do something with my life. Not only that, but I felt like I had a bit more to offer,'" she told Scottish TV's "Five-thirty" show.
As she revealed her dream to be a professional singer -- as big as Elaine Paige -- many in the 3,000 crowd in The Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Scotland, were smirking or even laughing.
Seconds later, the first gasps emerged as she sang the opening lines of "I Dreamed a Dream" from "Les Miserables."
About five minutes later, a standing ovation and the praise of the judges, including the show's creator Simon Cowell, were ringing in her ears.
Judge Piers Morgan wrote on the show's Web site: "I watched her performance back again last night, I texted Simon in Hollywood: 'My god, Susan was even better than I remembered -- she's unbelievable.' He agreed, and I could almost feel his beady little eyes going 'KERCHING!' down the line from his new Beverly Hills mansion.
"For, unless I am a brainless aardvark -- which might, sadly, be true -- then this West Lothian villager is going to sell a lot of records once this series is over."
New fans also clogged the message board, many along the lines of Surfer1960's: "I am just blown away by her voice."
She was more critical, saying: "They say that television makes you look fat, and it certainly did. I looked like a garage."
Britain's Press Association reported Moore and Kutcher apparently watched Boyle on YouTube. About five million others have also tuned in to YouTube since Saturday's TV show.
PA reported Cowell is already looking at a record deal for her.
Cast recordings of the track have entered the UK's official midweek singles chart and the iTunes chart. And Boyle is the bookmakers' favorite to win the talent show. She is also among the most searched terms on Google, and her name has been a high trend on Twitter since her appearance.
Boyle told the show Web site she's beginning to enjoy a bit of star treatment: "It's lovely when all the kids stop me in the street to congratulate me."
Now back in her hometown, Boyle has received quite the welcome. The Washington Post reported that children in the town are clapping when she enters stores.
Her parish priest told The Washington Post she'd sing at gatherings and at church, but she has "never flaunted her voice," and this is the first time she's been publicly recognized for her talents.
And on Easter Sunday, churchgoers showed their own appreciation by giving her a standing ovation when she got to Mass.
"We let out a wee bit of a cheer for her," Boyle's parish priest, Ryszard Holuka, told The Washington Post. "We are quite proud of her."
