Duterte: Only Marcos left tangible legacy among presidents

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday expressed his admiration anew for the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, saying he was the only Philippine leader that left a tangible legacy.

"Alam ninyo sa totoo lang, sa lahat ng mga naging presidente, sinong presidente ang may mga nagawa na makikita natin? Marcos lang," Duterte said in Cebuano at a campaign rally in Davao City.

Duterte mentioned infrastructure projects that were built during the Marcos years including the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Philippine International Convention Center and Manila's light rail transit system.

The President then took a dig at other politicians whose names he did not disclose.

"Mayroon siyang ipinakita. Ang iba? Puro salita. Puro saway," he said.

Duterte is a political ally of the Marcoses and a vocal admirer of the late strongman, who was laid to rest at the Libingan ng mga Bayani on November 18, 2016 following support from the President himself and the Supreme Court.

Duterte is also supporting the 2019 senatorial bid of Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos, one of the three children of the late president.

During his two-decade rule that started in 1965, Marcos oversaw a martial rule marked by serious human rights violations and supposedly managed to amass an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion from government coffers. 

Marcos was removed from office through the People Power Revolution in 1986, leaving a nation mired in deep poverty and foreign debt. 

Following his ouster, the state - through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) created by then-President Corazon Aquino - went to great lengths to recover these stolen wealth, even engaging in arduous court battles here and abroad that dragged on for years.

The PCGG has so far recovered a total of P172.66 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth since its creation in 1986 up to 2018. — BAP, GMA News