Where Did Marcos Hide His $10 Billion Fortune?
Almost 30 years ago, an American court ruled that victims of the Ferdinand Marcos regime in the Philippines should be compensated. The money was very well hidden.
Former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos at Malacañang Palace in 1978.
Photographer: David Burnett/Contact Press ImagesSenator Paul Laxalt was in a classified briefing about political chaos in the Philippines when an assistant interrupted: He had an urgent phone call from Manila. On the other end of the line was Ferdinand Marcos, the country’s president. Marcos wanted to know if it was true that Ronald Reagan wished to see him step down.
It was Feb. 24, 1986, and for the past several days millions of people had swarmed Manila’s streets in protest. The immediate trigger was Marcos’s victory in a seemingly fixed election, but the ire went much deeper. In the 1970s, Marcos had led a military government of uncommon brutality, disbanding Congress, silencing the media, and using the army to torture and kill thousands of citizens.