Marcos family has tons of gold? Bongbong says, 'Walang ginto'

Presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Saturday denied the long-standing conspiracy theory that his family keeps tons of gold which they would share to those who will vote for the late dictator’s namesake in Eleksyon 2022.

“Walang ginto, walang ginto,” former senator Marcos Jr. said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB’s "Ikaw Na Ba? The Presidential Interviews".

(There is no gold, there is no gold.)

An urban legend about a pre-colonial Tallano “royal family,” who kept millions of metric tons of gold which eventually allegedly passed on to the elder Marcos, resurfaced on social media recently.

The gold was supposedly meant to pay off the country’s debts and make the Philippines one of the richest in the world.

Marcos Jr. has since denied knowledge of the fabled gold in earlier media interviews.

On recovery of ill-gotten wealth

Asked if he will let the pending cases concerning the recovery of the Marcoses’ alleged ill-gotten wealth run its course, the presidential aspirant said, “Hiwalay naman ang executive sa korte.”

(The executive [department] is separate from the judiciary.)

He added that the executive department cannot influence the court since the latter is a separate co-equal branch.

“Malayo sa usapan doon sa mga gagawin sa darating na administrasyon. Hindi ko nakikita ang koneksyon,” Marcos Jr. said.

(This is far from what we have been discussing regarding what the next administration should address. I do not see the connection.)

The Presidential Commission on Good Government has through the years recovered more than P170 billion worth of the Marcos alleged ill-gotten wealth and is in the process of running after P125 billion more in assets.

Martial Law

Marcos Jr also reiterated his stance that he has nothing to apologize over the accusations of killings, torture, and other atrocities allegedly committed during Martial Law imposed by his father Ferdinand Marcos.

On whether his father was a dictator or not, Marcos Jr. said the issue should be left to historians who will have an unbiased study of what really transpired in history.

“Sa aking palagay, sige pag-usapan natin pero ayusin muna natin ang problema ngayon. Nasa krisis talaga tayo na maraming Pilipino ang naghihirap. Kaya sa aking palagay, may oras ‘yan, may lugar ‘yan pero hindi ngayon ang lugar na magtatalo tayo sa history of the Philippines,” he said.

(In my opinion, okay that can be discussed, but let us fix first our current problem. We are in a crisis wherein many Filipinos are experiencing hardship. So in my opinion, there is a time and place [to discuss that], but now is not the time to debate on the history of the Philippines.)

“Kailangan pinapag-usapan natin, pinagdidiskusyunan natin ano ba ang gagawin natin sa darating na ilang taon para maibalik sa trabaho ang ating mga kababayan para magkapera ulit sa kanila bulsa, makabili sila ng kanilang pangangailangan. ‘Yun ang aking isasagot sa kanila,” he added.

(We need to talk about what we should do in the next few years to give jobs to our countrymen so they can have money in their pockets and they will be able to buy their needs. That is what I will answer them.) —KG, GMA News