The former president of the Philippines became the "world's largest corrupt", hiding tons of gold at home, dragging down the country's economy

preface

In 2022, Philippine President Duterte stepped down and Marcos Jr. became the 17th president of the Philippines.

When it comes to Marcos Jr., many people can think of his father, Ferdinand Marcos, the elder Marcos Sr. is the longest-serving president of the Philippines, and has held power in the Philippines for a total of 21 years.

But Marcos is best known not for his 21 years of dictatorship, but for corruption.

According to statistics, during Marcos's 21-year reign, the gold hidden in his home was counted by tons, piled up in underground secret rooms, 29 private jets, and embezzled real estate, securities, and various industries, worth more than 10 billion US dollars.

You must know that this is tens of billions of dollars in the 80s, and now it is at least 100 billion, so what is the end of Marcos, who is known as the "world's largest greed"?

Life transitions

Ferdinand Marcos was born in 1917 into a political family, his father was influential in local politics, and the family attached great importance to education.

With his extraordinary talent and hard work, the 19-year-old Marcos was successfully admitted to the law department of the University of the Philippines.

However, the trajectory of fate took a turn in an accident.

Marcos was involved in a murder case of a political enemy, for a while, public opinion was in an uproar, he was pushed to the forefront, in the face of this sudden crisis, Marcos self-taught legal knowledge, fought for himself in court, and finally succeeded in acquittal.

Although he was finally freed from the punishment of the law, this incident was like an indelible stain that has always accompanied him.

With the outbreak of the war, Marcos resolutely threw himself into the battle against the Japanese army, he joined the American army, organized guerrillas, and fought to the death against the Japanese army in the rain of bullets.

In the course of the battle, he was wounded many times, leaving scars on his body, but these injuries did not break him, but strengthened his determination to defend his country.

For his bravery and leadership, Marcos was honored by the U.S. military and earned him great popularity among the Filipino people.

After the war, Marcos returned to the Philippines to start a new chapter in his political career.

At the age of 28, he was appointed governor of the province by virtue of his achievements in the war and the influence of his family, a position in which he worked diligently and accumulated a wealth of political experience.

Marcos then entered the presidential palace to flex his talents on a broader stage, and over the next 15 years, Marcos rose through the ranks to become president of the Senate with his political skills and keen insight.

In 1965, Marcos ran for president of the Philippines, and during the campaign, he promised the people to fight corruption, promote economic development, and improve people's lives.

These pledges won widespread support from the Filipino public, which led to Marcos' election as president of the Philippines by a high vote.

Marcos did deliver on some of his promises when he came to power, pushing for education and land reform that laid the groundwork for the Philippines' development.

At the same time, he skillfully used the Vietnam War to successfully enlist American aid and vigorously develop agriculture and industry.

Under his leadership, the Philippines' per capita GDP grew rapidly, surpassing South Korea and Thailand to become the second richest country in Asia.

However, power is like a double-edged sword, bringing glory to Marcos, but also gradually making him lose himself.

Dictatorship and corruption

When Marcos delved into the Philippine constitution and realized that the road to re-election was in jeopardy, he had no qualms about imposing martial law in 1972 in order to enjoy the supreme benefits of perpetuating power.

Under the guise of national security, Marcos has aggressively assembled secret assassination units that target political opponents who dare to question his rule and voice their opposition.

During that time, everyone in the Philippines was in danger, many righteous politicians and social activists disappeared or were brutally killed without warning, and the people's dissatisfaction and anger against the government continued to accumulate in their hearts, but they dared not speak out.

At the same time, in order to extend the family's power tentacles to all corners, Marcos installed his wife Imelda as the mayor of Manila.

Since then, the Marcos family has woven a huge network of influence at an astonishing speed, and has achieved all-round control over the political and economic fields of the Philippines.

In the economic sphere, the Marcos family is like a hungry wolf, plundering the country's wealth on a frenzied basis.

The $5 billion war reparations paid by Japan to the Philippines as a result of its World War II aggression should have been used for the reconstruction and development of the country and the improvement of the lives of the Filipino people.

However, the Marcos family kept this huge amount of money for themselves and used it to satisfy their selfish desires.

The $1 billion in aid provided by the World Bank in support of the development of the Philippines also did not escape their black hands and was ruthlessly transferred to private accounts.

Later, Marcos forcibly took back the rights to operate the coconut industry and set up a coconut producers fund, forcing coconut farmers to pay fees to his cronies, and the heavy financial burden made countless coconut farmers miserable.

Many coconut farmers have to borrow loan sharks in order to pay their fees, and end up in the abyss of debt and life is in a desperate situation.

The Bataan nuclear power plant project has become an important tool for the Marcos family to accumulate wealth, and the project budget has soared from the initial hundreds of millions of dollars to more than $2 billion under their control.

Most of the contractors involved in the construction of the project are companies with close ties to the Marcos family.

These companies cut corners in the implementation of the project, and a large amount of money flowed into private pockets, resulting in the construction quality of nuclear power plants is seriously substandard, laying a huge hidden danger for the energy security of the Philippines.

To conceal these ill-gotten gains, Marcos opened several anonymous bank accounts in Switzerland and regularly secretly transferred embezzled government funds through complex financial transactions.

At the same time, shell companies were set up around the world, and with the help of the cover of these companies, they bought shares in more than 200 listed companies.

Exploit regulatory loopholes in offshore financial centers to launder illicit funds and obscure their sources.

There has always been a legend of "gold under the mountain", and it is said that Marcos secretly hid several tons of gold.

In life, the Marcos family lived a life of extreme luxury, and in the Philippines, they owned 4,500 acres of luxury real estate, each of which was beautifully decorated like a palace.

In international metropolises such as New York and Hawaii, the Marcos family also purchased a large number of mansions and skyscrapers.

Marcos' wife, Imelda, has a cloakroom filled with the finest designer clothes from around the world, 3,500 pairs of fine leather shoes, and her jewellery collection weighs 100 kilograms, including rare treasures.

The home is also filled with precious works of art and antiques, and any single one is worth a fortune.

They also have 29 private jets, and the Malacañang Palace has been luxuriously renovated under their management.

Imelda is a global shopping enthusiast, and every trip is accompanied by huge spending, and her extravagant life has become the talk of the Filipino people after dinner, and it has also exacerbated the public's dissatisfaction with the Marcos family.

However, the Marcos family's actions have seriously damaged the national interests of the Philippines and laid the groundwork for the eventual collapse of the Philippines.

Eventually, it will bear its consequences

In 1983, opposition leader Benigno Aquino was brutally shot dead at the Manila airport, sparking a nationwide wave of protests.

The pent-up anger erupted like a volcano, pouring into the streets, holding signs and shouting slogans to strongly condemn the atrocities of the Marcos regime.

For a time, the domestic situation in the Philippines was turbulent, the credibility of the Marcos regime completely collapsed in the hearts of the people, and the once seemingly solid foundation of rule began to crumble.

In 1986, during the election process, Marcos's various irregularities were exposed, the ballots were arbitrarily tampered with, and the election results were manipulated.

The population could no longer stand the corruption and authoritarian rule of the Marcos family, and hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets for mass demonstrations.

At the same time, there was a wave of instability within the military, with some officers seeing the Marcos regime for what it was being like, becoming deeply disappointed by its corrupt practices and eventually defecting.

The defection of the army was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and the Marcos regime collapsed in an instant.

Seeing that the tide was turning, Marcos and his wife Imelda fled to Hawaii like lost dogs with hundreds of chests of treasure.

After fleeing to Hawaii, Marcos and Imelda did not reflect on their actions or show the slightest sympathy for the suffering of the Filipino people.

They continued to live a life of extravagance, buying mansions in New York, throwing lavish parties, and squandering the wealth they had plundered from the Philippines.

In 1991, Marcos' wife, Imelda, tried to return to Philippine politics, using her family's remnants and wealth to divide public opinion and reassert political influence.

Although she was resisted by many people, her behavior still caused a lot of waves in the Philippine political arena.

In 2022, Marcos Jr. was elected president, and the Marcos family once again took control of the country, a result that worried many Filipinos, who feared that the Marcos family would repeat the mistakes of the past and drag the Philippines into the abyss of corruption and chaos again.

The actions of the Marcos family have left indelible wounds on the Philippines, and the future of the Philippines is still full of uncertainty.

bibliography

Yancheng Jingjian.com——2018-11-10"Former Philippine First Lady Yi Meidai was sentenced to 42 years for embezzlement, and more than 3,000 pairs of shoes were found at home"

Baidu Encyclopedia - "Ferdinand Emmanuel Edraline Marcos"