Imelda wants to entrust her billions to Bro. Mike

Politicians spell trouble. So former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who says she wants to share her family's fabled wealth with the Filipino people, wants to entrust the wealth not to any politician but to the leader of the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai.

"Si Meldy ang lumapit sa akin (It was Imelda who approached me)," Bro. Mike Velarde said during El Shaddai's prayer rally last weekend near the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

"They want to entrust their money to me," Velarde later said in a chance interview during the Marian Congress of the Holy Trinity also near the PICC. "They fear that if the matter would be left to the politicians, there would be trouble."

Velarde did not say whether he will accept the job.

"If there really is a hidden wealth and the Marcoses decide to return it, it is the Filipino people who should decide on what to do with the money," he said.

"After all, the sovereign will must prevail," he added.

Reports have it that the government, through Presidential Adviser for Flagship Projects Roberto Aventajado and Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation Alex Melchor, is engaged in a new deal that would recover the Marcos wealth.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government estimated earlier the Marcos wealth to reach $13.5 billion.

Businessman Enrique Zobel told a Senate inquiry in Hawaii last year that the late dictator's wealth could reach P100 billion.

"Probably, it is about time that the people themselves look into these matters and decide, instead of just listening to anyone," Velarde said.

He said he has already suggested the holding of a referendum regarding the hidden wealth.