PCGG to sequester any new Marcos foundation

THE Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) on Friday lauded the offer of former First Lady Imelda Marcos to help poor Filipinos through her late husband's foundation but questioned where she will get the money since most of her assets are either under sequestration or tied up in litigation here and abroad.

PCGG Commissioner for Legal Affairs Narciso Nario said the big question is whether the funds Mrs. Marcos intends to use are ill-gotten wealth that has to be sequestered or have already been placed under sequestration. He said that if Mrs. Marcos is using a new foundation for the project, the PCGG would have to sequester it on the presumption that it is funded with ill-gotten money.

Earlier, Mrs. Marcos said she only needs two years to wipe out poverty in the Philippines. She said the main goal of the Marcos Foundation for Truth, Justice and Peace is to implement her husband's last will to give "all his earthly riches" to the Filipino people. "No Filipino poor in two years. Give me two years, I will complete this promise," she said.

The long-running rumor, tied up with recovered Yamashita treasure, is that President Marcos owns enough gold bullion, still being held by the United States government, to wipe out the country's debts as well as its citizens' poverty. But Mrs. Marcos said the gold bullions were given to Marcos as payment for legal services rendered to a gold firm long before he became president.

She showed reporters boxes of documents which, she said, will prove that the Marcoses did not steal from the Filipino people despite accusations that they amassed some $10 billion during the late dictator's 20-year stay in Malacañang. "In one account alone, we have 18,000 tons of gold," she said.

Nario said such claims would have to be verified and if found true, the gold bullions should be forfeited in favor of the government.