Рет қаралды 63,052
(22 Jul 1996) Tagalog/Eng/Nat
A furious Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Junior has slammed a decision by a jury in Hawaii to award $22 (b) billion to a U-S company in a case against his late father.
The company alleged the former President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, stole a priceless golden Buddha statue in 1971.
Marcos Junior dismissed the jury's decision as 'irrational.'
Home at last but not happy.
Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos is returning from a trip to Hawaii where he heard charges read out against his late father for yet another time.
This time his family lost the battle.
It all began in 1971 when Filipino treasure-hunter Rogelio Roxas charged Marcos' soldiers with confiscating a gold 3-foot-high (1 meter) Buddha statue he found in the northern Philippine mountains.
Roxas said it was stuffed with diamonds.
The locksmith cum treasure hunter claimed the soldiers later replaced the statue with a bronze one.
Before his death in 1993, Roxas turned over his claim to the treasure to a group of investors that formed the Atlanta-based Golden Buddha Corporation.
The corporation filed suit in Hawaii, originally seeking 1 trillion dollars.
'Bongbong' says he is not surprised with the jury's decision, as they are foreigners and are ignorant of what happened in the Philippines two decades ago.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"As I said, I can only characterized the decision as are Americans deciding about supposed of the alleged activities of Filipinos that had happened in the Philippines 20 something odd years ago. How can they make a fair and just judgement when they don't know what really happened in our country."
SUPER CAPTION: Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
He went on to say that he felt the decision was completely without foundation.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I have no statement except to react to the decision that was handed down by the court in Honolulu. I can only characterized it as being irrational because it is completely beyond reason. If the evidence presented I cannot understand the mental process that arrived at this decision."
SUPER CAPTION: Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr.
This hasn't been the first time the Marcos clan has lost in the courts.
Three years ago, the Honolulu Federal Court also awarded $2 billion against the Marcos estate to some 10-thousand Filipinos who claimed they were victims of human rights violations during Marcos' regime.
Like the Philippine government, they want to get the Marcos assets worth $ U-S 475 (m) million believed to be deposited in two Swiss banks.
A revolt in the Philippines prompted the Marcos family to flee to Hawaii in 1986 where the former President died three years later.
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...