Posts make false claim about how ex-Philippine dictator Marcos acquired his wealth
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on September 22, 2021 at 06:41
- 3 min read
- By AFP Philippines
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The claim was shared in this Tagalog-language Facebook post on September 26, 2020.
It reads: "Atty. Ferdinand Marcos and Father Jose Antonio Diaz were declared the richest men in the whole world in 1949 when they received 30% commission from 640,000 metric tons of gold".
"Marcos was still just a lawyer and not yet president then but he was already the richest individual in the whole world".
The post includes a collage that shows Marcos on the left. He was Philippine president from 1965 until 1986, when he was toppled in a "People Power" revolt.
The post claims the man pictured on the right was his associate, "Father Jose Antonio Diaz".
The same collage was shared more recently on Facebook here and here alongside a similar claim.
The claim is false.
Mass fraud
The claim that Marcos accumulated wealth from his law practice before becoming president has no basis.
A World Bank report estimates he plundered $5 billion to $10 billion from government coffers.
In a July 15, 2003 ruling, the Philippine Supreme Court said although Marcos "made it appear that he had an extremely profitable legal practice before he became a President", in reality, this claim was not backed by evidence.
"There is nothing on record that will show any known Marcos client as he has no known law office", the court said.
"The joint income tax returns of [Marcos] and [his widow] Imelda cannot, therefore, conceal the skeletons of their kleptocracy."
The court ruled at least three times that Marcos accumulated wealth fraudulently during his two-decade presidency.
'Gold payment'
To date, only around 244,000 metric tons of gold have been found in the world, according to the US Geological Survey.
This contradicts the claim in the posts that Marcos earned 30% commission on "640,000 metric tons of gold in 1949".
"We are still compiling numbers for 2019 and 2020, but as of 2018, our estimate of 244,000 metric tons of gold as the total amount that has been produced in the world is accurate," Alex Demas, public affairs specialist for the agency, told AFP on September 20, 2021.
"So no, we do not believe that 640,000 metric tons of gold were moved to the Philippines in 1949," he said.
Misleading collage
The photo labelled "Father Jose Antonio Diaz" in the misleading posts is incorrect.
Combined reverse image and keyword searches found a nearly identical photo was shared on Facebook on August 8, 2018.
The Facebook post states the photo shows Gregorio Aglipay, a Filipino priest who founded the Philippine Independent Church.
Aglipay died in 1940 -- some nine years before the purported events described in the false posts.
The National Historical Commission of the Philippines told AFP the image shows Aglipay.
"Yes, this is Aglipay. This is just an artist's rendition and not [an actual] photo," a representative for the agency said on September 15.
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