MANILA, Philippines — Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Chairman of the Monetary Board and Governor Eli Remolona Jr. poked fun at the BSP handing out portions of the country's gold reserves, a week after nearly a thousand people flocked to the BSP to supposedly claim trillions in "hidden wealth."
The BSP loaned 38 gold items to the Ayala Museum for its "Gold of Ancestors" exhibition extension "Reuniting the Surigao Treasure," this as items from both collections were initially discovered 40 years ago during a gold rush in Sitio Magroyong in Surigao del Sur.
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Joining around a thousand items on permanent display, the BSP's loaned items will give museum goers a "fuller" story about the Philippines' precolonial history, especially as some objects can be connected or compared after years apart.
Remolona attended the exhibit's opening last May 16 to impart a message on behalf of the BSP.
He mentioned during his message that part of the BSP's mandate is to be the "safekeeper of the country's gold reserves."
"You'll be happy to know what we have [loaned] is not from the reserves," Remolona quipped, which drew laughter from the crowd present at the museum.
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Just last week, around a thousand individuals trooped BSP's main office in Manila to claim what they described as trillions of pesos in "hidden wealth."
The crowed arrived following a claim by a certain Gilbert Langres de Salvador, founder of Democratic and Republican Guardians Philippines Inc., that the BSP would release the "hidden wealth" it had stored since the term of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
BSP, however, said in a statement to Philstar.com that giving out money to individuals is not part of its mandate.
"Nais linawin ng BSP na hindi ito direktang nagbabahagi ng salapi sa taumbayan," the statement read. "Sa halip, ang BSP ay nagbibigay ng dibidendo sa pamahalaan upang maka-ambag sa mga programang makapag-aangat ng kabuhayan ng mga Pilipino."
This is not the first time the BSP has been involved in a gold-related incident, having been a central figure of the so-called "Tallano Gold" supposedly belonging to the Marcos family and being kept in the BSP. — With reports from James Relativo and Keisha Ta-Asan
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