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Will Swiss accounts issue be revived during Marcos' Davos trip? Hindi naman siguro, says DFA exec


President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s trip to Switzerland next week will not revive the issue on the Swiss accounts of the Marcos family, an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.

At the pre-departure briefing for Marcos' attendance to the World Economic Forum in Davos, DFA Undersecretary Carlos Sorreta was asked if the Marcos administration is not worried that the issue on Swiss accounts will be revived during the President's trip in Switzerland.

"Hindi naman po siguro, [dahil] mayroon po tayong malinaw na framework for legal cooperation with Switzerland, nag-negotiate po tayo ng mga agreements for cooperation on legal matters including even iyong mga matters that may relate to this issue that you are referring to," Sorreta said.

"And none of those mechanisms have been triggered, whether the Swiss government or anything so we don’t know, and we don’t expect anything. I don’t think it’s an issue," he added.

Asked about rumors that the President will withdraw from his accounts in Switzerland, Sorreta said: "It's hard to comment on that."

"If ever there is something like that we would know about it, but there is none. Like I said, bilateral relation with Switzerland is excellent. There is a legal framework for cooperation on financial matters, and none of it has been triggered," he added.

Reports said it was in 1997 when the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ordered that the money in the Marcoses' Swiss accounts be returned to the Philippine government.

In 2014, the Philippine government recovered the last tranche of Marcos Swiss accounts worth a total of P1.3 billion ($29 million) after a Singapore court ruled that the Philippine National Bank (PNB) had the legal title to the deposits.

In 2003, the Supreme Court granted the forfeiture of the bank deposits, allowing PNB to give most of the money back to the Philippine Treasury under an escrow agreement.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

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