The President has revealed that the Marcoses will ‘open everything and return’ a part of their wealth, to help the government’s big projected deficit, on his speech on Tuesday.
As Rodrigo Roa Duterte lead the mass oath-taking of new government officials, in an impromptu speech, he revealed that the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos – through a representative he will not name – are willing to return some of their wealth questioned by the Philippine government.
“Malaki ang deficit mo sa… (You have a big deficit)… Maybe this year, ang (the) projected deficit spending would be big. Sabi niya baka makatulong, pero hindi ito malaki (he said it might help, though it is not that big),” Duterte narrated.
Duterte furthered that it will include ‘a few gold bars,’ “Hindi ganun kalaki (It’s not a big amount). It’s not a Fort Knox. It’s just a few but sabi nila isauli nila para walang ano (they said they will return it).
The Fort Knox is a vault within the United States Army, in which gold reserves and precious items are stored.
The unnamed spokesman also told Duterte the Marcoses’ side of the story. “And the only reason really was sabi nila (they said) that the father was protecting the economy now for the event man na maalis siya (that he will be exiled), but he was thought of regaining the Malacañang and that is why ganito ang lumabas (it looked like they hid it),” he recalled.
Duterte did not refer to the wealth as ‘ill-gotten’ but rather just focused on accepting the Marcos family’s explanation whether it is true or not. An accounting of the returned wealth was promised by the President.
“[I am] trying to look for a guy not identified with anybody to handle the negotiation, kung gusto nila (if they want). I’m looking at a former chief justice. Sila na lang mag-usap (They should just discuss) then another CPA (Certified Public Accountant) and maybe a representative of all that is accepted also by all,” he explained.
The President ended, saying that he is happy that they have come up with clean terms that is ‘something worthwhile for Filipinos.’