FACT CHECK | Dictator’s political party’s claims Marcos got hundreds of thousands ton of gold from a non-existent Malay royal family is false

February 3, 2022 , 07:09 PM

(February 3, 2022) – A blog post posted on the official website of a political party, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), founded by the late dictator, has been claiming his wealth had come from a royal family from the so-called kingdom of “Maharlika” who gave him hundreds of thousands of tons of gold bars for serving as the family’s lawyer.

Maharlika is the name of a pre-Spanish kingdom in the Philippines and a so-called Tallano family ruled the land, based on the KBL blog. Marcos, then a 27 year-old lawyer, was given a third of the more than 600,000 metric tons of gold which the Tallano family possessed.

The blog also claimed that Ferdinand Marcos used the large amount of gold to fund the nation’s numerous infrastructure projects under his term while keeping the nation’s foreign debt at a minimum.

The source of the story is dubious, the Philippines has historically not been known as “Maharlika.” The amount of gold claimed to be in Marcos’ hands is also unrealistic compared to the volume of gold that has been discovered across the globe.

In any case, Marcos’ only son and namesake has denied knowledge of the said gold. The claim is false.

CLAIM:

A blog post published in 2016 on the official site of Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) claimed that the Tallano clan, the royal family of the “Kingdom of the Maharlikans” – apparently the old name of the Philippines – hired Ferdinand Marcos through a Roman Catholic priest, Jose Antonio Diaz, to provide them legal service.

The Tallano clan purportedly paid Marcos and Diaz commission using nearly a third of the clan’s 640,000 metric tons of gold, making the two the “richest men in the world.”

The blog post said that Marcos used the gold to fund the nation’s infrastructure projects, allowing him to only incur $1 billion in foreign debt – rising from $13.5 billion to $24 billion, but $7 billion was incurred by the private sector while $2.5 billion was left in the Central Bank reserve.

It further claimed that two-thirds of all gold in the world is in the so-called “Maharlika,” as apparently cited by the “World Street journal [sic],” and that this threatened the Catholic Church and the United States to conspire to depose Marcos through the 1986 EDSA uprising to prevent him from upsetting the “balance of power” in the world.

The blog cited “Compilations and Research, Harnessed by Different Conduits of THE ROYAL MAHARLIKHANS PRIESTHOOD” as the source of the information.

RATING: FALSE

FACTS:

A cursory glance of the cited source already raises questions. The blog did not cite a specific book, data, or research material that lent credibility to its claims.

The Philippines has also not been called the “Maharlika” – historical records have shown that the archipelago before the Spanish colonial period was not all governed by a single ruler. Historian Samuel Tan also said in his book “A History of the Philippines” that the term “maharlika” referred to a class of free warriors.

The cited amount of gold is also far larger than the quantity of gold that has been discovered across the world, which the United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated at around 244,000 metric tons. The “World Street journal” may likely refer to the U.S.-based newspaper Wall Street Journal, who has told Rappler that they never referenced the claim in its paper.

The World Gold Council said the world’s total gold output since the time the precious metal was mined was only less than 200,000 metric tons. There are no historical records written about the Tallano family and a kingdom called Maharlika. Marcos did not mention the Tallano family in his own memoir.

The New York Times reported that Marcos stole the country’s gold reserves from the central bank and the former first lady had admitted she brought several gold bricks to Hawaii when they fled in 1986. But the amount of gold Marcos had amassed was not 200,000 metric tons.

Marcos heavily borrowed from the multilateral financial institutions to build edifices and public infrastructures during his 20-year rule. The external debt incurred by Marcos was far larger than claimed. Independent think tank IBON Foundation had estimated the foreign debt ballooned from $460 million to $19.3 billion over his term. Domestic debt also skyrocketed from P3.1 billion to P76 billion.

These inconsistencies alone already casts doubts on the credibility of the KBL’s blog claim.

In any case, Marcos’s son, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, said on CignalTV’s One PH channel’s program “Sa Totoo Lang” last week that he has never seen the gold that has been claimed to be with the Marcoses.

“Sa buong buhay ko hindi pa ako nakakita ng gold na ganyan. Marami akong kilala, kung saan-saan naghuhukay pero ako wala pa akong nakitang kahit anong klaseng gold na sinasabi nila,” he said.

WHY THIS MATTERS:

The blog post remained accessible on the official website of KBL, a political party. The party has fielded a senatorial candidate for the elections this May that has been endorsed by Marcos Jr. The so-called “Tallano gold” myth still continues to spread on social media to this day. Many ordinary Filipino believed in the Tallano gold claim and were hoping they would get a share if they helped Marcos win in the May 2022 elections.

News5 is part of #FactsFirstPH which brings together various sectors that are committed to promoting truth in the public space, and exacting accountability on those who harm it with lies. For those interested to join the initiative, email info@factsfirst.ph.

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