Tracing the Marcos fortune

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 11

Tracing the Marcos fortune

•" How did Ferdinand Marcos turn a yearly salary of 35700 into a personal fortune that may be worth as much as 310 billion? “The Search for the Marcos Millions,” tonight’s Tuesday Documentary (9 on One), traces Marcos' corrupt career as President of the Philippines, and reveals .the secret story of the Marcos fortune. ■ Filmed in the Philippines, Switzeraland and the United States, the programme includes a recent interview with Marcos in exile in Honolulu. Emmy Award-winning producers William Cran and Stephanie Tepper obtained several hours of videotape shot by Marcos’ own camera crews and obtained financial records, many in Marcos’ own hand, which document the looting of a national and the creation Of what may be among the biggest private fortunes in the world. Documents show Marcos’ hidden wealth is at least 32,113,260,000. But some sources in Switzeraland and America estimate Marcos’ true worth at 35 to 310 billion. The secret of the Marcos fortune began to unravel on February 25, 1986, when a United States military helicopter

snatched Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos away from the Presidential Palace where they lived for 20 years. That night, thousands of Manila’s poorest, chanting “Cory! Cory! Cory!,” swarmed over the iron fence of the Malacanang Palace and found French perfume, caviar, empty jewellery boxes, hundreds of designer dresses and. 3000 pairs of women’s shoes. Each pair would cost the average Filipino a year’s salary.

Aides of newly-elected Philippine President Corazon Aquino worried the palace might be burned, or, Incriminating records of the Marcos era would be destroyed. Among those ordered to secure the palace was Chito Ro-'

que, who entered the President’s bedroom. The floor was covered with papers. Shredding machines had jammed. Toilets were blocked with documents. Roque slid open the drawer of a grey tile cabinet Inside was a safe bulging with financial records. He spotted the names of famous Swiss banks, the symbols for Swiss francs, German marks and American dollars, column after column of figures, adding up to millions. What he discovered that night was only the beginning. . As the democratically elected President of the Philippines, Marcos amassed a fortune in the hundreds of millions; after the declaration ot .martial law, Marcos the

dictator multiplied his millions Into billions. He took kick-backs on major construction projects; almost any prosperous enterprise had to Include him in 80 per cent or more. A significant amount of this wealth was used to build an impressive , portfolio of United ■ States land and property. To conceal the true ownership, the Marcoses masterminded a proliferating paper trail of fake companies in Panama, trusts in Hong Kong, foundations in Lichtenstein and corporations In the Dutch Antilles. The Marcoses denied evenything despite evidence: court documents, financial records, congressional hearings and confessions of accomplices. Producer Stephanie Tepper says: “The way the Marcoses hid their wealth in Western banks is symptomatic of the way in . which much Third World wealth is syphoned off. “For decades, dozens Of oligarchs and dictators have been suspected of playing this game,” says Producer Bill Cran. “We in the West just shrug at this Third World corruption, but it is our own banks and economies that are the ultimate beneficiaries.”