ASEANEWS HEADLINE-PBBM ILL-GOTTEN WEALTH | MANILA: Atom hits Marcos for saying ‘ill-gotten’ wealth unproven
Marcos Gold
Grupong ATOM binatikos ang pahayag ni Marcos kaugnay ng umano’y ill-gotten wealth | TV Patrol
PUSHBACK FOR TRUTH The civil society group formed in the aftermath of the 1983 Aquino assassination finds yet another reason to stay vigilant following President Marcos’ remarks on Friday. —Inquirer file photo
MANILA, Philippines — The August Twenty-One Movement (Atom) on Saturday slammed President Marcos for claiming that his family’s wealth was not ill-gotten, and it lamented that not one member of his family has spent a day in jail since his father and namesake was toppled in 1986.
“We, the August Twenty-One Movement, vehemently disagree with this claim of Marcos Jr. This is untrue and absolute fake news! We will not just let this pass without disputing this new claim of his,” the group said in a statement.
Atom was formed in honor of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., who was assassinated on Aug. 21, 1983, on his return from self-exile in the United States to lead the opposition to the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
During a luncheon forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (Focap) on Friday, Marcos said his family had won several civil forfeiture cases in the courts. “The reason we won those civil cases is because they were proven to be not ill-gotten wealth,” he said.
READ: Sandigan junks remaining claims in forfeiture case vs Marcoses’ ‘ill-gotten wealth’
Atom said it was “not really surprising” for the President to make the claim “considering that the Marcos brand has always been known to be associated with lies and propaganda.”
As recently as June this year, a special division of the Sandiganbayan dismissed a civil case for the recovery of the Marcoses’ remaining properties that were not covered by earlier forfeiture proceedings pending before the court.
READ: Marcos admits ‘neglecting’ duties as co-executor of father’s estate
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the body tasked with recovering the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family, decided not to present any more evidence regarding the case because most of the remaining assets had already been recovered through other civil actions.
Swiss deposits
Atom pointed out that the President’s own mother, Imelda Romualdez Marcos, was convicted of seven counts of graft by the Sandiganbayan in 2018 and was sentenced to imprisonment of at least six years and up to 11 years for each count.
She was found guilty of illegally funneling $200 million to seven Swiss foundations during her term as a member of the defunct Batasang Pambansa, as Metro Manila governor, and as then minister of human settlements.
The former first lady, now 97, has been out on bail and her appeal of the antigraft court’s ruling remains unresolved in the Supreme Court.
“Unfortunately, until now, we have not heard what happened in that case. This shows how powerful the Marcoses and the Romualdezes have been ever since. No one from the dictatorship ever spent a day in jail after 1986,” Atom said.
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In a 2003 Supreme Court ruling on a forfeiture case on the Marcos secret Swiss deposits, the Court had determined that the combined lawful income of the President’s parents from 1966 to 1985, the year before the Marcos family was driven out of Malacañang by the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, was only around $304,372.43—equivalent to about P2.3 million at the time. Anything more than that amount was presumed ill-gotten, the high court said.
In a landmark judgment in 1997, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled that there was “little doubt about the criminal provenance of the secret Marcos accounts and securities hidden in Swiss banks,” and ordered that these be returned to the Philippine government.
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The Philippine government has recovered a total of $687 million just from the Marcos’ Swiss bank deposits and foundations, much of that in 2004.
In all the PCGG recovered about P265 billion as of December 2021, and running after at least P125 billion more, from Marcos, his immediate family, his relatives and his cronies.
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Atom said that it would continue to call out any false claims that would be made by the President and his family, saying that “we cannot just give the Marcoses their free pass every time they commit a lie and pretend their family is not corrupt.”
‘Family matter’
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“Our country has lived through so many lies already from your family, which has dragged our land into its current sorry state, since a lot of our people continue to fall for it,” Atom said.
During the Focap forum, Marcos admitted that he had neglected his duties as coexecutor of his father’s estate, with an unpaid estate tax amounting to P203 billion, citing his responsibilities as president.
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He explained that he had been “very busy with all the things that a president is busy with.”
Calling it a “family matter,” Marcos said he left the issue to his lawyers.
“I believe that I have some very good legal advice, and I leave it up to them,” he said. “And it’s not something that I spend time on. Like I said, it’s a family matter which pales in comparison to what I have to do in my day-to-day work.”
In December 2021, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) sent a written demand to the Marcos family to pay their estate tax liability. Following the collection notice, the revenue chief then, Lilia Guillermo, was replaced without explanation after serving for only six months.
The Marcos estate tax, which originally amounted to P23 billion after the dictator died in 1989, remains unpaid.
In November 2025, the US Supreme Court ruled to give control over a $40-million account of the President’s father in Merrill Lynch in New York which came from a Panamanian shell company, Arelma SA.
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This followed the 2012 Philippine Supreme Court ruling upholding the Sandiganbayan’s decision to forfeit the Arelma assets, which had grown from its original amount of $2 million in 1972, in favor of the Philippine government. —WITH REPORTS FROM LUISA CABATO, AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
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August 16, 2026
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