Imee: No negotiations yet on return of gold, loot

There are no talks yet with the Duterte administration for the return of part or all of the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos said yesterday.

“None yet, but we trust that it is President Duterte who could resolve this issue that has been pending for decades,” Marcos told reporters in Filipino.

She was interviewed before she attended the eighth hearing of the

House of Representatives committee on good government on her alleged misuse of P66.5 million in tobacco funds for the purchase of 115 buses, multicabs and mini-trucks.

Marcos has said the use of tobacco funds and the province’s procurement of vehicles were all aboveboard.

Asked if her family has already decided to return her family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth, the eldest daughter of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos said, “We are still talking with our lawyers.”

As for their supposed hoard of gold bars, she said, “I don’t know about that. I think it’s best that the lawyers respond to all these queries.”

On Tuesday, President Duterte said the Marcos family has expressed willingness to return their illegal wealth.

“The Marcoses, I will not name the spokesman, sabi nila (they said), ‘We’ll open everything and hopefully return yung mga nakita na talaga (those that had been discovered),’” Duterte said.

“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 (They said that, your deficit is high, maybe the projected spending but this is not big, maybe it will help, but we are ready to open and bring back, they said, even a few gold bars),” he added.

Rep. Lito Atienza of partylist group Buhay revealed in a news conference on Wednesday that former first lady and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Romualdez Marcos had told him when he was Manila mayor that the Marcos family had 7,000 tons of gold bars.

He said Mrs. Marcos intended to return the gold to the government so it could pay for and wipe out the country’s foreign debt.

“I told her, ‘why don’t you do it?’ She said a superpower was against it,” he said.

He did not name the superpower allegedly blocking the release of the Marcos gold.