Marcos denies family’s ill-gotten wealth anew, accuses critics of 'propaganda'

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has again denied his father’s plunder of billions of public funds during his two-decade rule, calling as “propaganda” the campaign for the Marcos family to return their ill-gotten wealth to the government. 

In an interview with Australia-based ABC News published on Monday, Marcos sought to downplay well-documented evidence that former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. had stripped government coffers of at least $5 billion and that his family acquired millions-worth of stolen loot that they even took with them to exile in Hawaii.

Asked to explain why he initially laughed at a question on the billions of money reportedly plundered by his father, Marcos immediately appeared to sober up and said that he “takes exception” to the “assertions” that have been made about his family.

“Since cases were filed, the government failed. Cases were filed against me, my family, the estate etc. Up to now we have ... the assertions that were made were shown to be untrue,” Marcos said.

Marcos also claimed during the interview that a thorough investigation has proved that the ill-gotten wealth acquired by his family was “propaganda.”

“I think that having seen the facts - as they have been slowly reviewed - with true investigation and not propaganda, actual investigation, court cases, investigations by all kinds of NGOs (non-government organizations) and agencies, that has changed. People can see that it was propaganda,” he said.

Shortly after Marcos Sr. fled the country in 1986, the newly created Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) uncovered evidence of Swiss bank accounts, secret international deposit accounts set up on their behalf and extensive global assets owned by the Marcos family. Well-documented evidence of such, including diaries, was recovered when the Marcoses left Malacañang on Feb. 25, 1986.

Estimates of the amount the Marcoses reportedly amassed in the last few years of Marcos Sr. presidency range from US$5 billion to $13 billion. This sizeable loot far exceeds the yearly salary that Marcos Sr. was earning as president, which was about $4,700 or P100,000.

In 2003, the Supreme Court ordered the forfeiture