Engineer charged over ‘fake’ US bonds

ANGELES CITY — The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) filed charges yesterday against a 56-year-old civil engineer who yielded six metal boxes of what the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) declared to be bogus US federal reserve notes with a purported value of about $375 billion.

"The BSP has issued an official declaration of the (seized) US federal notes as fakes," said Senior Superintendent Christopher Laxa, the CIDG’s Central Luzon chief.

But the suspect, Demetrio Garcia, insisted that the US Treasury has authenticated the federal reserve notes, even claiming that a US Treasury official, whom he declined to identify, was coming over to disprove the BSP’s declaration.

CIDG agents raided Garcia’s house last Oct. 15 and seized US federal reserve notes in denominations of $25 billion and $1 billion mounted on frames and kept in six sealed metal boxes.

Garcia was released the following day after he posted bail for a case of illegal possession of an unlicensed caliber .45 pistol found in his house.

"All I wanted was to use the funds to be generated from the federal reserve notes for development projects in the Philippines, including the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport," Garcia claimed.

Garcia insisted that he never claimed any association with the late former President Ferdinand Marcos. There were reports that Garcia, who has also assumed the name Percival Marcos, was the late strongman’s son.

A framed picture on a wall in his office showed him talking to Marcos. Another framed black-and-white photo on top of a filing cabinet showed Marcos receiving two foreigners as former Armed Forces chief Gen. Fabian Ver looked on.

Garcia declined to reveal details on how he came into possession of the US federal reserve notes which, he said, date back to 1934.

Except for one box, he said the sealed metal boxes have never been opened since 1934 although he said he knew what they contained.

Garcia showed The STAR a photocopy of a letter purportedly issued by the US Treasury last May 9, stating that US President George W. Bush authorized the redemption of the 1934 US federal reserve notes also known as "Morgantheu" federal reserve notes, last January.

The purported document described the federal reserve notes as "a festering sore for the US ever since the end of World War II."