by jariusbondoc | Sep 11, 2026 | Gotcha
For weeks after Andres Bonifacio’s execution, Gregoria de Jesus searched the mountains of Maragondon, Cavite for his remains. She felt it her duty as wife and keeper of the Katipunan’s top secrets to give the Supremo a proper burial.
Though hardened by three years of revolution, her mission was daunting. She trekked dawn to dusk, eating only what the forest offered: unripened fruits. All in vain. “My grimy tattered clothing wouldn’t have kindled had I tried to burn it,” she remarked.
That was one of many trials Gregoria bore as Lakambini of the freedom fight. She had to learn to ride, organize, lead. With granduncle General Mariano Alvarez she plotted initial skirmishes against the colonizers. She stood by Bonifacio opposing KKK factionalists at the Tejeros Convention.
She lost to smallpox her only child with Bonifacio. Years later she lost at infancy two of eight children with second husband, composer-general Julio Nakpil.
Aside from providing historians details of the struggle for liberty, she preserved for posterity two literary opuses:
• Bonifacio’s poem, “Anong pag-ibig pa ang hihigit kaya sa pagkadalisay at pagkadakila, gaya ng pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa…”
• Nakpil’s Katipunan hymn “Marangal na Dalit ng Katagalugan,” which opens with “Mabuhay, mabuhay yaong kalayaan, at pasulungin ang puri’t kabanalan.”
“Lakambini: Gregoria De Jesus” was rescreened on National Heroes’ Day, Aug. 31st, at Bantayog ng mga Bayani, Quezon City. The mostly female viewers, probably some of the males too, were in tears when the lights turned on at the end. At the open forum they lamented knowing so little about Filipino heroines. And that’s precisely why producer Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, Gregoria descendant Karen Tañada and historian Michael “Xiao” Chua organized the reshowing.
“Lakambini” took 10 years to complete. It began 2015 as a biopic of Gregoria, portrayed by Lovi Poe, with Rocco Nacino as Bonifacio and Spanky Manikan as Nakpil, directed by Jeffrey Jeturian from Rody Vera’s screenplay. Shooting encountered huge obstacles, including unexpected rejection by that year’s Metro Manila Film Festival and sponsors.
Ellen and indie troupe Pelikulove persisted. The project turned into a meta-docu, looking into the production setbacks and triumphs while incorporating the historical dramatization. Stage actress Elora Espano and veteran Gina Pareño came to portray Gregoria in midlife and late years. Paulo Avelino joined as Nakpil in lieu of Manikan who died in 2017, with Arjanmar Rebeta directing.
“Lakambini” premiered in 2025, Gregoria’s 150th birth anniversary. Ellen and Pelikulove bicycle “Lakambini” nationwide for viewing by students, teachers and interested organizations. For screening schedules and booking requests, visit Lakambini on Facebook or pelikulove.com.
Back to Bantayog ng mga Bayani. Etched among 339 names on the Wall of Remembrance is Edgar “Edjop” Jopson. A contemporary hero, Edjop’s life story is being retold in film as the nation struggles against political amnesia and historical distortions.
“Edjop” will premiere nationwide Sept. 16th. It is an emotionally-charged biopic that spans generations – a portrait of conviction and the cost of standing up to power.
Edjop was a young privileged Ateneo graduate who turned his back on wealth and comfort to confront Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship. He became one of the most wanted political dissidents during Marcos’ military rule.
Beginning as moderate head of the National Union of Students of the Philippines, Edjop initially advocated institutional and peaceful societal change. But as the regime turned increasingly violent, shuttering democratic avenues and cracking down on activists, Edjop abandoned corporate prospects to organize labor unions and stand alongside the marginalized.
Edjop was at the forefront of the First Quarter Storm 1970. In a march of a hundred thousand youths to Malacañang on Jan. 30th, he was among delegates invited to meet with the reelected president, who was scheming an unconstitutional third term.
After making them wait for an hour and a half, Marcos faced them before television cameras. Handing Marcos a paper, Edjop said, “Please sign this pledge to not extend beyond the end of your term in 1973.” Marcos glared, “Who are you to tell me what to do? You’re only a son of a grocer!”
When Marcos imposed martial law and began ruling by decree in 1972, Edjop went underground. Captured in June 1979, Edjop was brutalized for 11 days but escaped. He rejoined the U.G. in Mindanao.
On Sept. 20th, 1982 Marcos troops raided Edjop’s hideout in Davao city. Shot in the leg trying to flee, he was brought to camp for tactical interrogation, ie., torture. Next day, the 10th anniversary of martial law, they announced his death by gunshot wounds during a supposed firefight.
“Edjop” the movie incorporates accounts of wife Joy Asuncion, siblings, comrades. Most of all, the perspective of Edjop’s second of three offspring Joyette as she navigates her father’s legacy, seeking her own identity while reflecting on the nation’s travails.
Joyette, only two when Edjop was summarily executed, grew up thinking he abandoned them for his “bayan” (country). She immersed herself in the family business and in running, becoming the first Filipino to finish the grueling Arctic Marathon.
Joyette found out from kith, kin and strangers how esteemed Edjop is in the eyes of others. She produced the film on realizing that Edjop’s “bayan” was, as Benedict Anderson wrote, “an imagined community in which citizens consider themselves a part.” For in the end, “bayan” is one’s family which s/he struggles to uplift.
Elijah Canlas portrays Edjop and Jodi Sta. Maria, Joyette; direction by Katski Flores; co-written with Jade Castro.
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by jariusbondoc | Sep 9, 2026 | Gotcha
Photo from RTV Malacanang/YouTube
Cut the dramatics. Sara Duterte, Bongbong Marcos and Martin Romualdez should just fight each other to political death.
Sara milked dry the publicity ops of her posting of bail at the Quezon City court last Saturday. Begging reporters to not leave her side, she claimed to feel unsafe surrounded by cops at the courthouse.
“Pakiramdam ko papatayin ako anytime tapos ‘sorry’ lang ang sasabihin sa akin kasi, ‘We do not know but we did our jobs.’ Naalala niyo ba si Ninoy Aquino? Napatay sa hagdanan,” she emoted on news cams. “Sino ang mananagot kapag namatay ako? Wala akong tiwala sa pulis, wala akong tiwala sa korte.”
All those tended to hide the facts:
• Sara has 400 bodyguards in the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group, the only VP to get such privilege. VPSPG consists of soldiers and policemen. It surveils, sweeps and restricts movements at her destinations well before she arrives. It costs taxpayers P240 million a year in salaries. OVP spent additional P55-million special duty allowances for it in July 2022-June 2024.
• Sara posted bail because indicted for grave threats in November 2024 to assassinate BBM and Martin.
• “Grave threats” is also one of four impeachment raps against Sara. Aside from her livestreamed admission to have hired an assassin, she also demonstrated in October 2024 how she’d behead BBM.
• Sara’s father Rody Duterte paid off PNP for his bloody war on drugs. Cops officially killed 6,252 pushers for resisting arrest using rusty .38-caliber revolvers. There’s no record or repository of those “confiscated” handguns.
• Ex-Davao city cop Arturo Lascañas swore to have formed the Davao Death Squad that killed pushers on Duterte’s and later Sara’s orders.
• Since March 2025 Sara often says her father shouldn’t have been flown to the International Criminal Court at The Hague for trial for crimes against humanity. Only last July 29 she told Rody supporters near The Hague jail: “There’s no breakdown of the judicial system in the Philippines. Our judicial courts are functioning. We can go to court, file a complaint, the judge can hear it, the judge can decide.” Now she claims otherwise.
• As Davao city mayor, Sara punched in the face and nape court sheriff Abe Andres in July 2011. The latter was enforcing the judge’s order to evict squatters from a private lot.
• Ninoy Aquino was slain by aviation security airmen at the Manila Airport tarmac in August 1983. He had returned from US exile to convince political archrival dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to give up power. Heroified today, Ninoy knew he’d likely be killed upon arrival, yet still flew to Manila.
Sara wanted to be detained at Camp Crame for photo ops in handcuffs and behind bars, Interior Sec. Jonvic Remulla disclosed Monday. “Ang drama nila, gusto nila makulong siya,” he told reporters. “Hindi kami pumayag. We accorded her the respect that her position deserves.”
Arrangements were then made for the QC Court to open on Saturday for Sara’s bail posting. Judge Maria Angelica P. De Ramos admitted to be Sara’s sis in Sororitas Reginae Juris at San Beda College of Law.
At the courthouse some onlookers chanted, “Duterte, Duterte!”
Two women were let through the phalanx of guards to hug her and plead, “Magpakatatag ka para sa mga anak namin.”
Also on Monday, Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered Martin arrested for P7.44-billion flood fund plunder. Martin was in hospital for cardiovascular ailment and anxiety.
Remulla’s brother Sec. Jonvic enforced the arrest. He took Martin’s mugshot lying on the bed draped with an orange detainee t-shirt, then posted policemen outside the hospital suite.
The Remullas and Martin are fraternity mates in UP Upsilon Sigma Phi. Jonvic, who joined in 1987, and Martin, in 1988, were campus contemporaries.
Fans tout Sara for president in 2028. Pollsters rank her in the lead against undeclared presidential opponents.
BBM and Sara ran as UniTeam in 2022. Both skipped presidential and VP candidates’ debates except for that sponsored by Sonshine Media Network International of Duterte pal Apollo Quiboloy. Quiboloy is presently detained in Pasig for non-bailable human trafficking, sexual abuse and child abuse. The US wants him extradited for the same offenses.
BBM and Sara had a falling out starting 2024.
BBM’s son Rep. Sandro Marcos recently told a TV talk show that he “kinda saw” UniTeam’s collapse. He attributed it to “deep-seated power struggles and political maneuvering by various factions rather than a single person.”
In the Prime Radio-TV interview Aug. 8, he recalled that during the 2022 presidential campaign, he and BBM were called to a Malacañang meeting with Rody Duterte. After being made to wait two hours, Duterte sent three reps to tell them that under a BBM presidency they should be let to name the executive secretary, Senate president, House speaker and key Cabinet posts.
Sandro recalled that upon leaving Malacañang his dad told him, “Alam mo, kulang na lang papatayin na nila ako.”
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by jariusbondoc | Sep 4, 2026 | Gotcha
Photo generated by Gemini
China subsidizes research and development of humanoid robots. On Aug. 17, Hangzhou firm Unitree unveiled a prototype named Superman. It ran 12.66 meters per second, faster than world-record sprinter Usain Bolt’s 12.42 meters per second. Not knowing how to brake, Superman slammed onto a wall and was stretchered away. Two days later, Unitree debuted at Shanghai stock market, where its share price jumped 460 percent.
China has humanoids in the Philippines too. They mimic Beijing’s propaganda, downplaying Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea and labeling patriotic protest as US-inspired. So adept are they in treason that Defense Sec. Gilbert Teodoro has had to cajole them to resign.
VP Sara Duterte reacted by gaslighting on Aug. 6: “Pangalanan kung sino ‘yong officials na nagde-defend sa China over WPS issue. Hindi puwedeng magbitaw ng ganoong salita, pero hindi mo naman papangalanan. Suspect kahit ang Presidente kasi walang pangalan.”
Sara is scion of self-professed Xi Jinping lover Rody Duterte. Campaigning for president in 2016, Rody was asked by fishermen what he’d do to protect them from Chinese machine gunning and water cannoning at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. He promised: “I will jet ski to the Spratlys, plant the Philippine flag and declare, ‘This is ours’.”
Two weeks into his presidency on July 12, 2016 the Permanent Court of Arbitration rubbished Beijing’s nine-dash line claim over the entire South China Sea. PCA also upheld Philippine exclusive economic zone sovereign rights over Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, which China grabbed in 1995. Rody dismissed the ruling as “mere scrap of paper.”
On Feb. 19, 2018 Rody begged Xi: “Gawin niyo na lang kaming province, parang Fujian, Province of Philippines, Republic of China.”
On June 9, 2019 a China Maritime Militia steel trawler rammed an anchored Filipino wooden boat at Recto (Reed) Bank off Palawan. Twenty-two fishermen were thrown overboard. The trespasser fled, in violation of international maritime rules against hit-and-run. Rody belittled it as “an ordinary sea accident.”
On May 10, 2021 WPS fishermen reminded Rody about his 2016 declaration to defend them. “Panahon ‘yon ng kampanya,” he snorted. “‘Yong biro na ‘yon, ‘yong bravado ko, was pure campaign joke, at kung naniwala kayo I would say you are really stupid.”
VP Sara at first had “no comment” when asked about Chinese menacing at WPS on April 8, 2024. She has since learned to counterattack:
• May 7, 2025: “Bakit ko naman atakihin ang China? Ang problema natin dito ay ang hindi pagtupad sa mga pangako, tulad ng P20-per-kilo na bigas.”
• June 24, 2026: “Our problems in WPS don’t make up our entire relation with China so there’s no reason to lean towards the US. You always have to stay in the middle because you’re not part of the bigger conflict.”
• June 27, 2026: “The administration of President Marcos leans towards the US and is alienating China. I believe that the Philippines shouldn’t be involved in cooperation and competition at the same time with the US and China, being a middle power in the game of supremacy and domination.”
In 2022, Manila started exposing to the world all Chinese harassments. Being the most vocal, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela was targeted by pro-Beijing commentators for defamation.
Jan. 14, 2026 Tarriela uploaded photos from his lecture in universities about “Why China remains a bully,” with a caricature of Xi. Fifteen of 24 senators signed a resolution of support.
The Chinese embassy protested, calling Tarriela’s lecture “blatant political provocation.” Automatons at the Senate activated:
• Imee Marcos, Jan. 28: “I don’t seek to silence debate or diminish the right of officials to defend Philippine sovereignty. But reckless statements [against China] can have real consequences on our ability to protect national interests, particularly in sensitive areas such as maritime domain.”
• Alan Cayetano, Feb. 9: “The question kay Commodore Tarriela is, officially sanctioned ba yan? Tama lang na tanungin ng Chinese ambassador, bakit? If a general in China makes a caricature of President Bongbong, dapat i-protest ng ating ambassador. We cannot pass this resolution saying Commodore Tarriela is correct because he’s wrong.”
Davao city Mayor Sebastian Duterte joined the fray, Feb. 16: “I hate to see the [Chinese] ambassador having to deal with the behavior that’s unfriendly towards a loving and peaceful neighbor.”
On July 10 state-owned China Daily posted an AI-generated video depicting Filipinos as a monkey controlled by US and Japan hands. Teodoro and Tarriela led the public outcry against it. China robots retaliated:
• Sen. Robin Padilla: “Mr. Tarriela, it was you who drew first blood. This escalation into wartime propaganda was your genius creation. As for the Chinese media, aren’t we all monkeys of different colors in the eyes of white colonizers?”
• Rep. Paolo Duterte: “Why demonize China? China isn’t the only country that has claims on WPS. You know, Gibo, the job of defense secretary is not to give loyalty exams to elected officials. Your job is to strengthen our defense, not to label people who don’t agree with your views. If you want someone to resign, start with yourself because your father is Chinese.”
Sen. Rodante Marcoleta claimed on Feb. 4 that the WPS is a mere Philippine concoction with no geographic coordinates. Critics exposed his ignorance. WPS coordinates are listed in:
• Maritime Zones Act of November 2024 when Marcoleta was congressman, which reinforces the Philippines Baselines Act of 2009;
• 1734 Murillo Velarde Map, 1808 and 1875 Spanish colonial maps, all with depth measurements and which identify the Kalayaan Island Group as Bajos de Paragua and Panatag as Bajo de Masinloc.
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by jariusbondoc | Sep 2, 2026 | Gotcha
Flooded Zapote Junction in Las Piñas City on Saturday afternoon, PNA Photo.
Seven provinces are in state of calamity: Bataan, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales. So are 178 cities and municipalities. Two weeks of heavy rains and floods toppled four bridges, demolished 3,200 homes and 2,100 schools and flooded even the elevated North Luzon Expressway.
More than nine million people suffered losses. About 43,500 adults and children evacuated to temporary shelters. At least 60,800 tons of crops were damaged in 62,730 hectares of farmland. Ruined national roads and flood control dikes totaled P6 billion. Sixty-seven health clinics were destroyed.
Leptospirosis from animal urine sickened 5,835; 358 have died. “Leptospirosis is not only a medical condition,” says health care advocate Dr. Tony Leachon. “It’s a condition born of bad governance, lack of accountability and absence of social justice.” Thousands more are down with fever and flu.
Such maladies devastate Filipinos year in and year out. Yet their leaders offer no long-term solutions.
Many of those leaders find no reason to improve. They just switch with spouses, parents, offspring and siblings for national and local positions. Eighty percent of 24 senators and 317 congressmen are political dynasts. Same with 81 percent of provincial governors, 75 percent of city and municipal mayors and 55 percent of 18,191 local officials.
Politicos blame everyone else but themselves for deadly floods. They point to slash-and-burn farmers (kaingeros) for worsening climate change, litterbugs for clogging up waterways and squatters for building shanty towns in hazard zones.
Yet it’s the politicos who plundered P1.7 trillion in flood controls in 2016-2025. None have been convicted nor compelled to restitute their loot. Only a few have been indicted.
If Filipinos should be blamed at all, it’s for electing those plunderers over and over again. Unschooled in basic Math, Science and Reading Comprehension, they have no critical thinking. They thus vote based on celebrity, bombast and political “ayuda.”
Filipinos find scientists unexciting. Technical talk bores them. They do not realize the difference: scientists aim for progress, politicos only desire profit.
Before spending any more billions on flood control, check first if it will work, geologist Mahar Lagmay advises. Malacañang is proposing P107.4-billion flood controls for 2027. Best to wait first for Lagmay’s Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) to check if those projects are needed to begin with.
Lagmay will use both artificial intelligence and historical data to pinpoint flood-prone areas. NOAH has received P1 billion for it. It has 12 years’ record of rainfall, terrain change and high-resolution hazard maps per locality. When compiled, these can form the bases for regional masterplans. Engineers can then design and execute solutions.
When speaking of engineers, Filipinos must consider only honest ones. Not the DPWH under and assistant secretaries, regional directors and district engineers behind the P1.7-trillion flood control scam, 2016-2025.
At least three masterplans had been drawn up for the national capital:
• The 1941 Frost-Arellano Masterplan aimed to develop a new Quezon City outside Manila. “It shows wide green easements along all original waterways,” says urban designer Paulo Alcazaren. “The planners understood the function of these easements, including stormwater management.” Those were American architect Harry Frost, landscape architect Louis Croft, Filipino architect Juan Arellano and engineer AD Williams of the Bureau of Public Works.
• The 1939 Parsons’ plan for Cebu had similar patterns as Paris, like spokes on a wheel with Arc de Triomphe at the center. The 1898 revolution and a 1903 fire had left a “Cebu Burnt Area.” American architect William Parsons designed six diagonal avenues leading to a central hub. But only three avenues eventually were paved towards Fuente Osmeña Rotunda.
• The World Bank funded in 1977 a Metro Manila Transport, Land Use and Development Plan. Urban planner Felino Palafox Jr. identified Marikina, Cainta and Pasig as the most flood-prone. A Manggahan Floodway was to direct flood waters onto Laguna de Bay. A Parañaque Spillway was to drain out to Manila Bay. Manggahan Floodway was finished in 1986. Parañaque Spillway was never dug. “It’s like having a toilet without a flush,” Palafox laments. In 2009 storm Ondoy deluged the metropolis up to rooftops.
Ex-secretary Manuel Bonoan testified last month that DPWH allotted P500-million “Leadership Fund” to each of 24 senators of the 19th Congress, 2022-2025. Sen. Bong Revilla supposedly got P1.5 billion as chairman of the Senate committee on public works. Congressmen got their own shares. None admit it.
In 2022-2025 then-Speaker Martin Romualdez bagged P57-billion infrastructure insertions, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reports. PCIJ does not impute any corruption. But being President Bongbong Marcos’ first cousin helped Romualdez bag the Speakership and consequently the P57 billion.
Romualdez outdid the record of Davao city Rep. Paolo Duterte. The presidential son got P51.8 billion in DPWH allocations in Rody Duterte’s last three years in office, 2020-2022.
Presidential son Sandro Marcos got P39.2 billion, PCIJ adds. Even Marcos critic and Minority Rep. Leandro Leviste admits to getting billions more from DPWH after exposing new undersecretaries in 2025 to be linked to crooked contractors.
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by jariusbondoc | Aug 28, 2026 | Gotcha
Gina Acosta/Senate Screengrab
VP Sara Duterte publicly declared to be atheist. At a press conference, Oct. 22, 2024, she said: “Hindi ko aatakihin ‘yung tao, bakit ko aatakihin? Eh ‘yung paniniwala ko, hindi naman niya paniniwala. Parang Diyos lang ‘yan. Naniniwala ka sa Diyos, ako hindi, respetuhin mo ako. Kahit ‘di ako naniniwala, ikaw na naniniwala sa Diyos, rerespetuhin pa rin kita.”
How does that reconcile with the Constitution she swore to defend? The Preamble opens with, “We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God….”
How does that align with her oaths of office as VP, mayor, vice mayor, which end with, “So help me God.”
“So help me God” also punctuates VP Sara’s oath as a lawyer. Also all her attestations of the truth in Articles of Incorporation, affidavits and as witness.
The Bible warns against godless leaders. Exodus 5:2 narrates: “But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go’.”
Proverbs 14:34 warns, “God-devotion makes a country strong; God-avoidance leaves people weak.”
The Hebrew Tanakh contains those same passages.
The Quran similarly teaches those. Surah Al-Qasas 28:38, “And Pharaoh said, ‘O eminent ones, I have not known for you any god other than me.…”
Surah Al-A’raf 7:96, “And if the people of the towns had believed and feared Allah, we would certainly have opened for them blessings from the heaven and the earth.”
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“Alam niyo po ba, Ms. Gina Acosta, na ikaw ang maaring makulong?”Impeachment prosecution lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan made that remark due to the OVP special disbursing officer’s repeated canned answers during direct examination.
It goes as well for OVP admin and finance ASec Lemuel Ortonio. Ortonio and Acosta acknowledged that their boss, impeached VP Sara Duterte, is the head of agency. They admitted turning over P500 million, on Sara’s say-so, to outsider Col. Raymund Lachica.
That’s despite the absence of a signed receipt by Lachica and in violation of COA Joint Circular No. 2015-01.
The COA joint circular has the force of law because signed with various agencies, says former Philippine Bar Association president Rico Domingo. It holds heads of agencies, finance and disbursing officers responsible for handling confidential and intelligence funds.
Section 8, Administrative Provisions/Penal sanctions, states: “Failure to liquidate any public funds for which one is accountable, upon demand by any duly authorized officer, shall be prima facie evidence that he has put such missing funds or property to personal use and benefit.”
Three charges can be filed against Sara, Acosta and Ortonio:
• Malversation of public funds or property, non-bailable and punishable with life imprisonment due to the huge amount;
• Corruption – “Persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with the official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced or influenced to commit such violation or offense;”
• Plunder, because of three elements: combination or series of crimes, amount exceeding P50 million and personal benefit.
The ombudsman on its own or any citizen can file complaints.
The VP is not immune from suit. More so her blindly loyal subordinates, as Senator-judges Raffy and Erwin Tulfo called Acosta and Ortonio.
Sara and Acosta can be investigated as well for any misuse of Davao City’s confidential funds, P460 million a year in 2019-2022. Sara as mayor and Acosta as disbursing officer handled the P1.84-billion total.
Note that the Department of Justice has indicted Sara before a Quezon City court for grave threats against President Bongbong Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta and former speaker Martin Romualdez. Sara committed the offense in November 2024, but was charged only this month. She wants the raps dropped for being an impeachable officer.
Trial of Acosta and Ortonio for malversation, corruption and plunder can proceed at once at the Sandiganbayan. That of Sara can be postponed till after her impeachment trial or end of term, says law professor Howard Calleja.
Note again that former senator Bong Revilla was acquitted of plunder in December 2018. But his chief of staff lawyer Richard Cambe took the rap and was convicted and sentenced to reclusion perpetua or up to 40 years in prison. He died of stroke in April 2021 while serving his sentence.
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by jariusbondoc | Aug 26, 2026 | Gotcha
PNA Photo
President Bongbong Marcos claimed that his family’s excessive wealth was not ill-gotten, saying that they’ve won some civil suits. He mentioned this to the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, Aug. 14th, when asked about the status of his family’s overdue estate tax payments.
“The reason we won those civil cases is because they were proven to be not ill-gotten wealth,” he said. Presidential work has been making him neglect his duties as Marcos estate administrator, he added. He’s leaving everything up to lawyers, so supposedly knows nothing about unpaid dues to the government.
The Supreme Court in 1997 ordered the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. to pay P23 billion estate tax. The ruling became final and executory in 1999.
No payment was made. The tax due has ballooned to P204 billion from penalties, surcharges, and interests. Retired SC senior associate justice Antonio Carpio mentioned this during the 2022 presidential campaign.
The Marcos wealth is illegal. Two SC rulings say so:
• The Presidential Commission on Good Government got Switzerland to release $658 million in secret Swiss bank accounts of Marcos Sr. and First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos. The SC in 2003 forfeited the money in favor of the government. It ruled that the Marcos couple’s legal income from 1965 to 1985 was roughly $304,372. Anything vastly above that amount was ill-gotten.
• Also forfeited for the government in 2012 was $40 million from Arelma Corp. The front company was founded as Arelma S.A. in Panama. Marcos used the alias William Saunders to open a Swiss bank account on Mar. 20th, 1968, his third year as President. The next day Imelda opened her own account under alias Jane Ryan. Arelma’s initial $2 million grew to $40 million by the 2010s.
PCGG filed other forfeiture cases for real estate properties discovered in the Philippines. The Office of the Solicitor General prosecuted the cases. Some were dismissed due to procedural shortcomings and insufficient evidence.
The biggest loss was in 2023. The SC affirmed the Sandiganbayan’s dismissal of a P1.05-billion civil forfeiture case involving Imelda and associates. PCGG failed to prove its case by preponderance of evidence.
The SC considered Imelda’s jewelry as part of unlawful holdings because in excess of her income as Human Settlements Minister and Metro Manila governor in 1976-1986. Three sets were confiscated, now kept at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas:
• Left behind when they fled Malacañang in Feb. 1986 were 400 pieces of gems valued in 2017 at $110,055-$153,089. Those were well-set semi-precious stones made into belts, brooches, and earrings; white diamonds in gold tiaras; pink diamonds in gold bracelets; and diamond in gold buckle. Those were found among 15 mink coats, 508 couture gowns, 888 handbags, and 3,000 pairs of designer shoes.
• Of greater value was the collection Imelda attempted to bring along to Hawaii exile. US Customs took a month to document the $5 million-$10 million hoard. In 1991 Imelda surrendered the “Hawaii collection” in exchange for the dropping of certain lawsuits.
• A third collection was seized from Imelda’s Greek hairdresser Demetriou Roumeliotes who attempted to sneak it out of the Manila airport in Mar. 1986. Consisting of only 60 pieces, it was deemed the most valuable at $3.8 million-$5.3 million. Part of the “Roumeliotes collection” is a diamond-studded bracelet with a 31-carat centerpiece.
Imelda allegedly bought paintings and other artwork, including European masterpieces, each worth millions of dollars. Victims of martial law filed for confiscation by the New York Supreme Court of 206 items. This was for partial fulfillment of their $2-billion award by the Honolulu court in 1995. Those included paintings by Bacon, Cezanne, Degas, El Greco, Filippo Lippi, Gauguin, Goya, Latour, Manet, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Raphael, Renoir, Tiepolo, Van Gogh.
In 2010 Imelda’s secretary Vilma Bautista illegally sold from the collection Claude Monet’s 1899 painting “Water Lilies” to a London gallery. Price: $32 million to pay off personal debts. It was without Imelda’s consent. Convicted in New York of conspiracy and tax fraud, Bautista was sentenced in Jan. 2014 to two to six years in prison. The Swiss buyer avoided litigation by paying $10 million more to the Marcos victims.
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