Marcos family to return wealth, including gold bars, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte claims
Duterte’s announcement was the latest development in the remarkable political rehabilitation of the Marcos clan
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday the heirs of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos had offered to return to the government some of the family’s disputed wealth, including “a few gold bars”.
Marcos and his wife Imelda were accused of plundering about US$10 billion from state coffers in 20 years in power. A bloodless “People Power” uprising in 1986 chased the family into US exile.
The government announced last month that Duterte, a Marcos ally, may abolish a government agency that has recovered some 170 billion pesos (US$3.4 billion) from Marcos and his family.
But Duterte said in a speech to government officials: “They [the Marcos family] told me they’ll open everything, and probably return what is uncovered.”
He did not name the Marcos family member who had approached him, the total being offered or the terms attached to it.
The family member had told Duterte “we are ready to open and bring [it] back ... including a few gold bars”, according to the Philippine president, but the amount involved was “not Fort Knox”. Fort Knox is a vault that stores US gold reserves.
They [the Marcos family] told me they’ll open everything, and probably return what is uncovered