Imee says Marcoses willing to cooperate with gov’t on alleged ill-gotten wealth issue

Imee Marcos said that her family was open to cooperate with the government to help it in its effort to recover reported ill-gotten wealth during the term of his father the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The Ilocos Norte governor and senatorial candidate is the eldest daughter of Mr. Marcos and former First Lady and incumbent Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos.

"My family volunteered to President (Rodrigo) Duterte na makikipag-ugnayan at mag-cooperate kami sa pagbigay ng impormasyon — anuman ang puwede naming ibigay, anuman ang nalalaman namin, pati na rin ang mga papeles," Marcos said.

Duterte in August 2017 said the Marcos family expressed willingness to "open everything" and return a portion of the wealth, including several gold bars.

The Marcos family was found to have brought $717 million in cash, $124 million in deposit slips, and 300 crates of assorted jewelry with undetermined value, after the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has so far recovered more than P171 billion worth of the wealth stolen from the country's coffers by the late strongman.

"Napakadami pong kaso na naka-pending sa iba't ibang korte. Handa ho kaming ipagtanggol ang aming pangalan at alam po natin na iyong PCGG ay magpapatuloy, ngunit ayaw kong mag-comment kasi interesado po kami," Marcos said.

"Patuloy po naming ipagtatanggol at ipaglalaban — ebidensya sa ebidensya, dokumento sa dokumento — lahat ng mga paratang na ito," she added.

Marcos said she is willing to sign a bank secrecy waiver to make her records available to the public, which she said she is open to have as a requirement for candidates running for public office.

Asked on GMA's "Debate 2019" if she would be open to sign a bank secrecy waiver, Marcos claimed she had no problem to do so as she submits her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) yearly.

"Wala tayong problema diyan. Matagal na akong nasa gobyerno at taon taon, nagsa-submit kami ng mga SALN kaya hindi po problema 'yan," Marcos said.

Marcos said she was also open to have all candidates sign bank secrecy waivers as a requirement.

"Sa tingin ko, puwede namang gawin kwalipikasyon 'yan para sa ating iba't ibang kandidato," said Marcos.

A bank secrecy waiver is a formal written permission by the depositor, containing details to the account or accounts in question, which would open information otherwise protected under Republic Act 1405 or the Law on Secrecy of Bank Deposits.

—NB, GMA News