TOKYO Where the Marcos family is concerned, even good news is bad for 95 million Filipinos and their economy.
What else can one say about Andres Bautista’s depressing news conference in Manila? The man charged with recovering the billions in state wealth looted by ex-President Ferdinand Marcos said his team had recovered the last $29 million sitting in Swiss bank accounts, bringing the final haul to $683 million. If one includes other booty-gold, jewels, property, art-Filipino investigators have clawed back some $4 billion over the years.
Still, even conservative estimates put the Marcos treasure at somewhere north of $10 billion. Face it, the Marcos clan is just too skilled at hiding its loot from Bautista’s finance men.
Bautista now seems to be channeling The Monuments Men, George Clooney’s film about the search for the Third Reich’s treasure trove of priceless works. Investigators are going after the Rembrandts, Van Goghs, Michelangelos and Raphaels bought with the Marcos’ money-an estimated 150 masterpieces.
Bautista also hopes to shame the surviving members of the Marcos family, including 84-year old Imelda, the former dictator’s wife. He’s planning to put her extravagant jewelry collection on display for all to see. “We want it to be a statement against the excesses in the past,” Bautista says.
Those excesses still hold the nation back.Ferdinand Marcos has been dead for a quarter-century, but the corruption and cronyism he wrought lives on. Some of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates are controlled by Marcos associates, whom investigators believe have helped the family hide its billions. Imelda-best known for her gargantuan shoe collection-also has wrapped her tentacles around the government to thwart the wealth chasers. In 2010, her celebrity and nostalgia for a time when the Philippines was known more for charm than poverty helped Imelda win a congressional seat. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., her son, is a senator, while daughter Imee Marcos is governor of Ilocos Norte, a northern province where the Marcos name is, by hook or crook, still well regarded.
Marcos Inc. can spend lavishly on the best defense lawyers to stymie sleuths and has the votes in the government to back it up.
Bringing the Marcos family to justice should be a much bigger priority for President Benigno Aquino. Now that he’s put the nation’s finances on firmer footing, Aquino should get Marcos Inc. out of power and the corruption it represents out of circulation. The economy hasn’t yet had a cathartic break with the mismanagement and corruption of the past. It needs that to truly move forward.
Nearly three decades after Marcos fled to Hawaii, vested interests continue to hijack the democratic process in the Philippines.
-
———◊-
———
William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist.
Editorial, Pages 78 on 02/16/2014