PCGG to look into reported FM gold deposit

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said yesterday it would look into a report in a South Korean newspaper that the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos hid billions of dollars in gold in a Swiss bank.

"We will look into that," said PCGG Commissioner Jorge Sarmiento, adding that he would ask the Philippine Embassy in Switzerland to make inquiries.

He was referring to a report in Seoul’s Munhwa Ilbo newspaper this week that Marcos hid 940 tons of gold bars worth $8 billion at the Union Bank of Switzerland on Sept. 11, 1970 using the name of then North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung.

Sarmiento, whose agency is tasked with recovering the wealth allegedly stolen by Marcos and his allies, said this was the first time he had heard of the newspaper’s allegation but added "we will not leave anything to chance".

The newspaper quoted a former Marcos aide as its source and carried a copy of the alleged bank account certificate on the front page

Marcos, who ruled the country with an iron hand for 20 years, much of it under martial law, was toppled in a popular revolt in 1986 and died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

For years, the PCGG has been trying to track down billions of dollars in wealth that Marcos and his allies allegedly plundered from state coffers and stashed abroad.

In the early 1990s, the Philippines located about $540 million in Swiss accounts. The money is now held in escrow in a Philippine bank where, with interest, it has now grown to $642 million, pending return to its legal owners.

In July, the Philippine government announced that it had been informed by Swiss and German officials that Irene Marcos, a daughter of the late leader, and her husband Greggy Araneta tried to transfer funds to Deutsche Bank from Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS).

This is suspected to be an attempt to launder illegal wealth and the PCGG has said it will summon the couple for investigation. – Sheila Crisostomo