Duterte raises doubts on Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth

President Duterte has raised doubts about the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos during their two-decade regime.

In a speech at the Manila Hotel late Tuesday, the President again defended his decision to allow the burial of the late president at the 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) That’s the law. The other law what they want to say is that Marcos was a dictator that he stole,” he said.

“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),” he added.

Marcos supposedly amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion from government coffers during his 20-year administration. His family stashed them away in secret and local offshore accounts, or hid them through fake foundations and their cronies, reports said.

After Marcos’ ouster, former President Corazon Aquino formed the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in 1986 to recover the stolen wealth. So far, the PCGG has recovered more than R171 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth from the Marcoses and their cronies.

In September 2017, Duterte revealed that he accepted the Marcos family’s offer to return their wealth to the Philippine government to finally lay the issue to rest.

“I accept the invitation, it’s finally time these things be finally accepted. I accepted lang na gusto na nilang makipagareglo sa gobyerno para matapos na ang kaso (I accepted that they want to settle to finally lay the issue to rest),” Duterte had said.

Duterte earlier said that the Marcos family allegedly kept the wealth supposedly because they were planning to return to Malacañang anyway. He said he accepted the explanation, whether it is true or not, because there is really nothing more to it anymore.

He said he was leaving it up to the government to decide on how to recover the wealth and if it would still pursue further cases against the Marcoses.