ATTY. EDDIE BARRITA:

Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said that former First Lady Imelda Marcos told him in a private conversation more than a decade ago that she wanted to return some “7,000 tons” of gold to the country. That’s a mind-boggling amount that begs the question: where did all that gold come from. Atienza said that the former first lady had told him, “I’ll liberate the nation from foreign debt.” The country’s foreign debt ballooned to $26 billion by the time Ferdinand Marcos and family fled Malacañang in 1986. Isn’t it fitting that those who incurred the huge foreign debt should also be the ones to “liberate” the country from it?

Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said former First Lady Imelda Marcos told him in a private conversation more than a decade ago she wanted to return some “7,000 tons” of gold to the country.

It’s no Fort Knox in Kentucky which, US Mint said, holds 147.3 million ounces of gold valued at $261.6 billion at a price of about $1,776 per ounce.

But the amount of gold still boggles the mind, raising questions on where all these came from.

Imelda Marcos only has the noblest of intentions in returning the gold. Atienza said she told him, “I’ll liberate the nation from foreign debt.”

The country’s foreign debt ballooned to $26 billion by the time Ferdinand Marcos and family fled Malacañang Palace in 1986.

Isn’t it proper and fitting that those who incurred the huge foreign debt should also be the one to liberate the country from it? All these talks about the Marcos’s gold go well with the morning coffee. It’s the stuff for treasure hunters, who eventually delved into the famed Yamashita treasure that Ferdinand Marcos purportedly discovered.

President Rody Duterte added fuel to these talks when he said in a speech that the Marcoses are willing to return “a few gold bars.”

“The Marcoses, I will not name the spokesman, sabi nila, ‘We’ll open everything and hopefully return yung mga nakita na talaga,’” he said.

It sounded uncanny, but the unnamed spokesman cited almost the same reason used by Imelda Marcos for returning some of the wealth and a few gold bars.

But this time, it’s to help reduce the budget deficit. “Sabi nila na malaki ang deficit mo, maybe the projected spending, pero hindi ito malaki baka makatulong, but we are ready to open and bring back, sabi niya, pati yung a few gold bars,” President Duterte said.

Would they really return the loot? Keep your fingers crossed. All that glitters is not gold.”

But the amount of gold still boggles the mind, raising questions on where all these came from