Marcos Says Japanese Gold Was Basis Of Family Fortune

MANILA, Philippines - Imelda Marcos claimed for the first time today that the basis of her late husband's wealth was Japanese and other gold the former president found starting at the end of World War II.

The former first lady said President Ferdinand Marcos kept the fortune secret because "the amounts were such astronomical proportion that it would be embarrassing."

The government of President Corazon Aquino claims Marcos built a secret fortune through embezzlement and kickbacks during his 20-year rule.

There was no government comment on the claim of Mrs. Marcos, who is running for president in May elections while at the same time fighting 50 criminal charges in connection with alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Marcos was ousted in the 1986 military-civilian uprising that installed Aquino in office. He died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

"Transaction of precious metal was very secret and confidential," Mrs. Marcos told reporters. She said her husband refused to put the gold in the bank or reveal its existence because it would have hurt his chances to be elected president in the 1965 campaign.

She said some of the gold was from the legendary Yamashita treasure, which Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita allegedly looted from Southeast Asia and buried in the Philippines during World War II.

The existence of the "Yamashita treasure" has been the source of rumor and speculation in the Philippines since the end of the war in 1945.

According to the legend, Yamashita tried to evacuate the gold when the Americans invaded the Philippines in 1944 but was unable to move all of it.

There were rumors that Marcos found most of the treasure, but members of his family had never commented publicly on the reports until today.

In 1987, Aquino's government authorized a Las Vegas firm to search for gold believed hidden in Fort Santiago, a Spanish fortress near the mouth of the Pasig River in the heart of Manila.

The search was discontinued months later with no indication any gold had been found. Officials of the firm claimed they had helped Marcos retrieve some of the Japanese gold but had broken off the search for more because they feared a double-cross.

Mrs. Marcos said her husband hid the gold in secret locations including the walls of their home in northern Luzon.

She also said he used some of the revenue from the sale of the gold to help the country through economic hardship in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She said the sale was facilitated by the late Arthur Burns, then chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, who gave her a list of gold traders.

By the time of the sale, the price of gold had soared to record highs, and Marcos had cleared a fortune in the deal.

Mrs. Marcos declined to say where the remaining gold was stored or to estimate its value.