Then there’s the problem of Ferdinand Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth. Much has been written about it, in great detail, including amounts and aliases, signatories and depositories. The avalanche of information came from documents left behind by the Marcoses in their rush to leave Malacañang in February 1986. Confessions by Marcos’ cronies and financial advisers corroborated the revelations in the months following the People Power Revolt. That the courts to this day have not resolved many of the stolen wealth cases is a testament to the Philippine judicial system’s weaknesses. But it doesn’t mean the exposés were baseless. These and his allegedly faked war exploits must be reviewed, with 204 congressmen petitioning to re-inter Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Among the detailed accounts is Charlie Avila’s “Chronology of Plunder.” It traces Marcos’ amassing of secret wealth, from his first congressional term to his 14-year martial rule and his heirs’ resistance to forfeiture. Avila compiled the evidence obtained by the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which he had helped form in 1986. Following are excerpts from his work, partly stored in http://marcosgold.blogspot.com/2009/06/marcos-chronology-of-plunder.html:
1949-1950 It can be said that Marcos came from a poor family and that he made his first million as a first-term congressman in 1949 and 1950 selling import licenses. He bought a Cadillac to celebrate his new status. Before then there was no outward indication of any wealth.
July 07, 1967 Papers found in Malacañang showed Marcos opened his first bank account abroad on this day when he deposited $215,000 in Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. Not yet accustomed to hiding money, he used his own name. The following year, 1968, he opened his first Swiss account.
March 1968 Walter Fessler, an official of Credit Suisse Bank in Zurich, came to Manila. He was brought to Malacañang. Forms were filled out and signatures appended. On his signature verification form, Marcos wrote out “William Saunders (pseudonym),” an alias he had used in his WWII days, and underneath that name he wrote “Ferdinand Marcos (real name).” Imelda did the same, choosing Jane Ryan as her pseudonym. Four bank accounts were opened, with four checks totaling $950,000.
January 1, 1970 Today Marcos announced to the nation that he was giving up all his worldly wealth. He now admitted he was rich. This was amazing. He never admitted anything. But then came the blockbuster: “You know how I made my pile? I discovered Yamashita’s treasure.” The shabby excuse was universally judged exasperatingly unoriginal. But there it was. He said he was rich because of Yamashita’s treasure and he was giving all that up for the Filipino nation in gratitude for their electing him to a second term — the only president ever to be reelected, he proclaimed.
February 13, 1970 Manila did not believe the Marcos Foundation announcement. The demonstrations got worse. Protests turned violent. While the battle raged, Marcos and Imelda issued handwritten instructions to Markus Geel on this day to establish another foundation — to be kept secret from the Filipino people — the Xandy Foundation in Vaduz, capital city of Liechtenstein. This tiny state between Austria and Switzerland was famous for offering a unique form of corporate structure — the anstalt — a single-shareholder company protected by the world’s tightest corporate secrecy laws. The CIA and KGB hid their covert funds there. Even Swiss bankers who sometimes had the need to hide money used the anstalten. The Saunders and Ryan accounts were closed and the money transferred to the Xandy Foundation account at Credit Suisse. This would be the first of many foundations set up in this manner, with Swiss bankers and lawyers as directors to hide the identities of Marcos and Imelda.
August 26, 1970 The Trinidad Foundation was set up in Vaduz.
June 21, 1971 The Azio Foundation was set up in Vaduz.
September 24, 1971 The Rosalys Foundation was set up in Vaduz.
December 27, 1971 The Charis Foundation was set up in Vaduz.
June 22, 1973 Rayby Foundation was established in Vaduz.
September 1976 This month the Marcoses bought their first property in the U.S. — a condo in the exclusive Olympic Towers on Fifth Avenue in New York. Five months later they would also buy the three adjoining apartments, paying a total of $4,000,000 for the four and using Antonio Floirendo’s company, Theaventures Limited in Hong Kong, as front for these purchases.
And Avila’s is just a preview of it all.
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There were no immigration men at the Manila Airport counters when the Philippine Airlines flight from Hong Kong touched down at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Passengers disembarked in ten minutes, and took another ten walking to the booths. But these were empty. Grumbling, they had to wait 30 minutes before the checkers took their positions. What’s going on?
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Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).
E-mail: jariusbondoc@workmail.com