A YouTube video falsely claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had recovered his family’s bank account in Singapore. Not true. The president’s official visit to the country on Sept. 13 to 17 had nothing to do with reclaiming their purported bank deposits.
Uploaded on Sept. 17, the video is a clickbait that only played clips of Marcos’ visit that day to Lucky Plaza Mall, a popular gathering place for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Not one supported the headline that read:
“NAKU PO NAGKAGULO NA SA SINGAPORE PBBM NAKUHA NA ANG MARCOS ACCOUNT? (Oh my it was mayhem in Singapore. President Bongbong Marcos had retrieved the Marcos account?)”
Its thumbnail featured a photo of a crowd surrounding Marcos, along with text that read: “NAKU NAGKAGULO NA PBBM NAKUHA NA ANG MARCOS ACCOUNT SA SINGAPORE (Oh my it was mayhem. PBBM got the Marcos account in Singapore)?”
Marcos went on a four-day trip to Singapore to attend the 10th Asia Summit, and meet with private investors and OFWs, according to the Presidential Communications Office. He also watched the Formula One Grand Prix with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The president’s official itinerary never mentioned anything about reclaiming his family’s alleged bank account.
In 2012, Singapore’s High Court awarded to the Philippine National Bank the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth amounting to US$16.8 million and 4.2 million British pounds deposited in the Singapore branch of German bank WestLB.
Fake gold trust certificate
At the 0:15 mark, the video also showed an unproven 1983 trust certificate allegedly signed by Ferdinand Marcos Sr., claiming that the late dictator had deposited 150,000 metric tons of gold in a Singaporean bank.
However, there were only 104,350 metric tons of gold mined globally by 1989, according to M. G O’Callaghan’s paper “The Structure and Operation of the World Gold Market” published by the International Monetary Fund in 1991. This makes the claim above impossible.
The baseless document also bears the logos of the now-defunct Central Bank of the Philippines and a non-existent International Bureau of Central Intelligence.
Uploaded by YouTube channel PweDelie TV, the erroneous video has so far garnered 29,651 views, 2,300 likes and 409 comments. Several netizens shared the link on Facebook.
VERA Files Fact Check has previously flagged several claims about Marcos retrieving his family’s wealth abroad. Similar claims usually emerge when the president goes overseas or when a foreign leader visits the Philippines.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
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