Manila: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he is looking for an independent person to head a new anti-graft body that will negotiate the return of gold bullion and other assets that former President Ferdinand Marcos kept while in power for 20 years. Marcos was removed through a people-backed military mutiny in 1986.
“The Marcoses said they will open everything and probably will return what they themselves can recover” Duterte said in a speech in Malacanang, the presidential palace on Tuesday. “They said, ‘We are ready to open [all assets] and bring back [to the government] some gold.’ They also said, ‘It’s not much’, but they will return everything [they can recover].’
“They [emissaries] said the father [of the Marcos family] only wanted to protect the [Philippine] economy, but the assets [he kept] were [eventually] reported as ill-gotten. I will accept the explanation [for the time being] whether or not it is true since they are ready to return [these assets],” Duterte said.
Duterte mentioned a former chief justice, a certified public accountant, and a third party not affiliated with any party as possible negotiators.
“Three people are talking [to us]. I’m trying to look for a guy not aligned with anybody to handle the negotiation, if that’s what they want,” Duterte said.
Revealing other plans, Duterte said, “I want to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government [PCGG], but people might say it is being abolished now that we are on the verge of discovering something [valuable from the Marcoses]. I will create another office [for the recovery of alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses].”
Duterte did not identify the people sent by the Marcos family. He did not reveal the value of the alleged ill-gotten wealth that the Marcoses will return.
Over 30 years, the PCGG has recovered P170.7 billion (Dh13.5 billion or $3.7 billion) worth of assets. It has also recovered art works and jewellery.
The government is still pursuing 248 cases against the Marcoses and alleged business cronies whose appeals after 30 years are still pending before the Supreme Court. Former President Corazon Aquino created the PCGG in 1989 for the recovery of Marcoses’ alleged ill-gotten wealth. The amendment of a law is need to abolish the PCGG. But Congress is controlled by Duterte allies.
The alleged ill-gotten wealth accumulated by Marcos has been estimated recently at $10 billion (Dh36.7 billion).
In 1986, it was estimated at $35 billion; and the gold bullion at $5 billion.
His reign was criticised for massive human rights violations and corruption.
Marcos died while in exile in Hawaii in 1989. Philippine authorities allowed the surviving Marcos family members to return in 1991. It paved the way for the election former First lady Imelda Marcos and their children Imee and Ferdinand Junior to public office — who ran and lost by more than 270,000 vote in the vice-presidential elections last May 2016.
In 1992, the government allowed the return of the remains of Marcos, for burial in his hometown in northern Luzon’s Ilocos region.
When the Supreme Court allowed the burial of the remains of the former strongman at the National Heroes Cemetery last November, protesters widely blamed Duterte.
