President Bongbong Marcos wants Filipinos to believe that his family’s fabulous fortune is not ill-gotten. At a Foreign Correspondents Association luncheon, he objected when a reporter described Marcos assets as ill-gotten. His proof? Civil case victories.
“The reason we won those civil cases is because they were proven to be not ill-gotten wealth,” he said.
Nice try, Mr. President. But do not play us for fools.
Marcos is attempting a Donald Trump maneuver. Repeat a lie until sheer frequency makes it “true.” Propaganda depends on repetition. Facts depend on evidence.
And the evidence says it all
The PCGG reported that Ferdinand and Imelda accumulated between $5 billion to $10 billion over 21 years in power. By 2018, recoveries by the Philippine government reached roughly P170 billion. The government could not have recovered anything if the wealth was legal.
The Supreme Court was more definitive. In 2003, it forfeited $658.2 million in Swiss deposits held through Marcos’ foundations. How could this be? Ferdinand and Imelda’s combined lawful income from 1965 to 1986 was only $304,000. The Marcoses could not explain how their earnings produced $658.2 million hidden abroad. The Court declared the deposits ill-gotten and returned them to the Republic.
In 2012, the Supreme Court also forfeited the assets of Arelma S.A., a Panamanian corporation created by Ferdinand, whose Merrill Lynch account grew from $2 million to more than $3 million. Secret companies are not evidence of innocence. They are instruments of concealment.
In 2017, the Court upheld the forfeiture of the Imelda’s jewelry. In 2019, the Sandiganbayan forfeited paintings worth $24.3 million. In 2021, it ordered Royal Traders Holding Company to return P96 million and $5.4 million, plus interest. In 2024, the Supreme Court declared a 57.68-hectare Paoay property ill-gotten and returned it to the state.
Imelda herself was convicted by the Sandiganbayan in 2018 on seven counts of graft involving Swiss foundations. Her appeal may remain unresolved, but the conviction exists. So do the judgments, forfeitures and recoveries that BBM now wishes Filipinos to forget.
And then there were asset grabs
The Lopez family lost Meralco after Eugenio Lopez Jr. was imprisoned. Media organizations were closed, seized or transferred to cronies, allowing Roberto Benedicto to dominate television, radio and newspapers. Coconut farmers were taxed through the coco levy, but funds intended for them financed corporate acquisitions, including UCPB and San Miguel shares. Marcos associates gained commanding positions in sugar, bananas, logging, telecommunications, mining, construction and banking.
The Marcoses used state power – not business acumen – to seize companies from successful entrepreneurs. Arrests, detention, decrees, government loans and monopolistic privileges were their weapons. These abuses are well-documented. They justified the return of some corporations to their rightful owners.
BBM’s shallow argument
BBM deliberately re-frames case dismissals as vindication. How shallow. When a corruption case fails because of missing witnesses or prosecutorial neglect following four decades of hearings, it does not prove the assets were honestly acquired. It only means the justice system was too slow, too corrupt, too incompetent or vulnerable to political pressure. So, if corruption cases were dismissed, it could also mean the cases were bought, manipulated or politically coerced for a favorable ruling.
The Marcoses also lost major cases in the United States. The nearly $2-billion human rights judgment remains valid, while the separate $353.6-million contempt judgment against Imelda and Bongbong remains enforceable until 2031. These cases arose from atrocities and attempts to dissipate estate assets. The existence and decisions of these cases demolish BBM’s sweeping claim of complete innocence.
Let us not forget the festering estate tax. The Supreme Court upheld the government’s right to collect some P23 billion from Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s estate, and the judgment became final in 1999. Penalties and interest reportedly increased the liability beyond P200 billion. It remains uncollected. BBM is a co-executor of the estate. Imagine, here is a president who demands tax compliance from ordinary Filipinos, yet belligerently delinquent in paying his own family’s tax obligation. The hypocrisy is appalling.
The basic question
We should all ask ourselves one basic question. Did the Marcoses have a legitimate business – one they built from the ground up – to justify their enormous fortune? A business large enough to justify their Swiss holdings, Manhattan properties, masterpieces, jewels and oceans of cash? None has been credibly presented to the public. Ergo, we can conclude that the Marcos family business is politics and leveraging power for wealth. That business continues today.
Look, I could be more forgiving of the Marcoses had BBM returned even a fraction of the disputed wealth as an act of restitution. Evidently, that is too much to expect from the family. I could also judge him more amiably had he governed with competence and pursued the reforms needed to transform the country. But his administration is failing on all fronts – on the economy, political reform, education and health care. No amount of subsidies can conceal the absence of genuine progress.
His latest statement at the Foreign Correspondents Association was a pathetic attempt to normalize a lie and sanitize the family name.
We must reject it completely. Because forgiveness without confession, restitution or accountability is surrender. And as BBM himself said, “We are Filipinos and we do not yield.” A nation that learns nothing from one predatory dynasty prepares itself for the next – and, tragically, we already have.
Marcos duped Filipinos to reclaim the presidency with his “unity” shenanigan. But electoral victory is not historical acquittal. The court judgments and unexplained fortune remains. No amount of propaganda can erase them. The Marcoses have deceived the nation enough. We will not be fooled again.
* * *
Email: andrew_rs6@yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @aj_masigan