Marcoses offer to return "few gold bars" to govt, says Duterte
Heirs of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos have offered to return to the Philippine government "a few gold bars" and other discovered ill-gotten wealth found in their possession, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday.
In a speech during the mass oathtaking of newly appointed government officials, Duterte revealed a representative of the Marcoses, whom he refused to name, approached him and made such offer in order to provide additional fund for the government.
"They said, 'we'll open everything and hopefully return those which were found already," he said, quoting the Marcoses' "spokesman."
While the amount could not be that big, Duterte, quoting the spokesman, "'we are ready to open and bring back, including a few gold bars (to the government)."
He said the Marcoses representative explained they have the gold bars because the late president "was protecting the economy" and he thought he could still "regain Malacanang."
After his two decade-rule in the Philippines, Marcos was ousted from power through a bloodless people power revolution in February 1986. Corazon Aquino, the widow of late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., was catapulted to power.
Duterte said, "I will accept the explanation whether or not it is true."
As of the moment, he said he did not have any figure as to the amount of loot that the Marcoses would return.
The President did not want the Presidential Commission on Good Government to handle the matter.
He said he would task a three-man group, which include a retired chief justice of the Supreme Court, a certified public account and and another representative, to deal with the Marcoses' offer.
The PCGG, which was specifically created during Corazon Aquino's term, was tasked to go after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies. Celerina Monte/DMS
