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Marcos heir to oversee hunt for loot if he wins Philippines presidency
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In this photo taken on March 25, 2022, Philippine presidential candidate Ferdinand (AFP/Ted Aljibe)
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early 40 years after the Philippines began hunting for the billions of dollars plundered during former dictator Ferdinand Marcos's regime, much of the loot is still missing and no one in the family has been jailed.
There are fears the rest may never be found if his son and namesake wins next week's presidential poll, which would put him in charge of the government agency leading the global search.
The elder Marcos, his flamboyant wife Imelda, and their cronies are estimated to have stolen as much as US$10 billion from state coffers during his 20-year rule.
Cash was stashed in foreign bank accounts or plowed into art masterpieces, jewelry fit for royalty, thousands of shoes, and real estate from Manila to New York.
The task of tracking down the ill-gotten wealth went to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), set up after Marcos was deposed and the family chased into exile.
Based in a drab building seized from a Marcos crony on a busy highway in Manila, the agency has recovered 266 billion pesos ($5 billion) in cash and assets in the past 36 years.
Funds returned to the government have been largely used for land reform and compensation for the victims of Marcos-era human rights abuses.
