Duterte raises doubts on Marcos ‘ill-gotten’ wealth, says ‘not yet proven’

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte once again came to the defense of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, raising doubts about his family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth during his two-decade rule.

In a speech before a convention of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines at the Manila Hotel on Tuesday night, Duterte said the allegations against Marcos and his family until today have not been proven.

“Until now you have not proven anything except to sequester and sell — hindi mo nga sigurado kung talagang kay Marcos ba ‘yan (You are not even sure if that really belongs to Marcos),” Duterte said.

The President made the statement as he again defended his decision to have Marcos buried at  the Libingan ng Mga Bayani.

“Sino ang pwedeng ilibing sa (Who is allowede to be buried at th) Libingan ng mga Bayani? Ang sabi ng batas, sundalo o kaya presidente (The law says that you can be buried there as long as you are a soldier or a president),” he said.

Marcos died in exile in Hawaii on September 28, 1989 after being ousted through the peaceful People Power Revolution in 1986. His burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 6, 2016 took the public by surprise and sparked protests.

During his two-decade rule, Marcos supposedly managed to amass an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion from government coffers.

His family allegedly stashed them away in secret local and offshore accounts, or hid them through dummy foundations as well as cronies.

After Marcos’s ouster, former president Corazon Aquino formed the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in 1986 to recover the stolen wealth.

The PCGG has, so far, recovered more than P171 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth from the Marcoses and their cronies.

The government is still pursuing 248 cases against the Marcoses and their alleged cronies in various courts, with some appeals pending before the Supreme Court.

In 2017, Duterte revealed that the Marcos family was willing to return gold bars and a part of their alleged hidden wealth, citing an emissary who said the riches were taken only to secure the Philippine economy at the time.

He noted that the Marcos family kept the wealth because their patriarch, Ferdinand, was only “protecting the economy”.

“The Marcoses are ready to return. I was, I accept the explanation because there is no other explanation, I do not know anything, I cannot debate with them. Sinabi ko (I said) I accept the invitation it’s finally time these things be finally accepted,” the President had said.

The Palace clarified, however, that Duterte was leaving it up to Congress to set the proper parameters on what to term the Marcos wealth.