JAEN, Nueva Ecija – The son and namesake of late
former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. on Saturday called on Filipinos not to be
deceived by people claiming to be caretakers of the socalled Marcoses’ wealth,
promising to give huge amounts and money and vast tracts of land from the
family fortune, dismissing their
gimmicks as scams.
“These
are all scams and don’t fall for it,” said Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at a press
conference in Barangay Langla here.
The
younger Marcos was referring to the reported operations of groups of people who
claimed to be caretakers of Marcos assets worth billions of pesos. He said the
money racket has been practically operating in many provinces in the country,
claiming to have ties with the Marcoses.
“This
has become all too-prevalent and we warn you, don’t let yourself be fooled by
these people,” he said.
Marcos
issued the warning after newsmen brought to his attention the activities of
syndicates, including two suspects who claimed to be caretakers of the Marcos
assets.
Only
recently, he said, they were able to apprehend someone posing as their relative
who was engaged in fund-raising using the Marcoses’ name.
Early
this year, two suspects were also charged for milking money from individuals. The
suspects, identified as Felicisima Cantos and Emmanuel Destura demanded money from 81 individuals supposedly
to have their share of the Marcos wealth.
The National Bureau of Investigation
said that in January 2012, Destura and Cantos introduced themselves to
complainants as caretakers of the Marcos assets and talked them into investing
in their company called Bullion Buyers Limited with office address in China.
The two also persuaded them to recruit
more members nationwide so that accordingly, by numbers, they have their
strength as claimants of the Marcos’ wealth and could have more company shares.
After investing P2,000 each, the suspects promised the victims a profit of P5 million to $5 million. But the suspects failed to deliver the promise, prompting the victims to seek NBI help.
In Southern Leyte, a massive tree planting
project operating under the acronym FIRM for “Friends of Imelda Romualdez
Marcos” has been attracting thousands of members in the province with the
promise they would share the gold bullions of the former First Lady which is
alleged stashed away in 177 foreign banks.
Under the scheme all that was needed to
join FIRM was to buy and plant a mahogany tree, build a red fence around it,
pay a P300 registration fee (which entitles the member to a red T-shirt) and
the applicant would automatically qualify for a share of Imelda’s wealth at between
P700,000 to P1 million per member.
According to Southern Leyte State University
President Dr. Gloria Markines Reyes, she learned about the project from Bontoc
Vice Mayor Pedro Fustanes who told her that some of his supporters had asked
him if they could join FIRM since it was easy money.
Fustanes said he advised them not to since
it had all the makings of a scam but that some had already planted the trees
and had paid the membership fee.
One of the victims said many of his
friends had even borrowed money to join FIRM because they believed the
organization was legitimate and qualified them for riches beyond their
imagination. He said they were also promised free education, employment and housing.
FIRM was organized in 2000, formerly
composed of Marcos loyalists. Its critics claim its goal was to keep the groups
supporting the former president intact and to serve as the nationwide
organization for the senator’s presidential campaigns.
The senator disowned the movement and
said their family does not operate that way. – Manny Galvez
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