So where did this fabulous but allegedly legal Marcos wealth
come from? That’s where the "Imelda vs cronies" series gets really
interesting, not to mention entering the realm of fantasy. Part 4
(PDI, 8/12/98) had the astonishing headline: "‘Marcos had gold
hoard of 4,000 tons’". According to Imelda, Marcos was the world’s
shrewdest gold trader, accumulating his first 1,000 tons whilst a
guerilla fighting the Japanese in WWII (the legendary Yamashita
Treasure) and amassing 4,000 tons by the 1970s (as against the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ [BSP] mere 650 ton gold reserve). She
reckons that he bought gold at $US 17 per ounce and sold it at $US
32. Things really took off in the 1970s, when the price of gold hit
nearly $US 800 per ounce
The 500 billion pesos (divide by 20 for $NZ or by 25 for $AUS)
is described as a conservative estimate; Marcos lawyers say that it
might go as high as a trillion pesos. If such a case or cases
actually comes to pass, it will undeniably be the biggest
litigation in Philippine history. The P500 billion is in addition
to the P22 billion ($US580+million) of Marcos wealth found in Swiss
banks. Interesting when you consider that the 1965–84 tax returns
for Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos declared a total combined income of
P6,756,301.
Imelda’s first target is PLDT, specifically to attempt to block
the P30 billion deal passing control of the company to the
Suharto–linked First Pacific Co. She contends that a 1967 deal
establishes the Marcoses as the real owners of PLDT, not the
leading crony family, the Cojuangcos. She is targeting the
Philippines’ leading capitalists, such as billionaire Lucio Tan
(Fortune Tobacco, Allied Banking, Asia Brewery, and Philippine
Airlines. He is also a very close friend and ally of President
Estrada). "That Lucio Tan, he’s nothing, just somebody who used to
buy used bottles" (ibid). Her logic is impeccable – the Government,
via the Presidential Commission for Good Government (PCGG) has
tried since the mid 1980s to prove that these companies are Marcos
owned and controlled. It has been stymied at every step by failure
to prove ownership. So now Imelda openly admits ownership, and
wants control back. But unlike the PCGG, she asserts that ownership
came from legal, not illegal, Marcos wealth and that her motive for
going public is to clear her late husband of the accusation of
being a thief. Indeed, Imelda claims that Marcos used his vast
fortune to personally finance the development of the Philippines –
but presents zero evidence to support this incredible claim.