FACT-CHECK: YouTube channel falsely claims Marcos money in Australia now in PH due to PM’s visit

Sep 13, 2023 | Fact Checked by PressOnePH

CLAIM: Proceeds of Marcos account in Australia have arrived in the Philippines due to prime minister’s visit
RATING: FALSE

YouTube channel “PweDelie TV” has made another outrageous and false claim, this time, that the proceeds of a supposed Marcos account in Australia have arrived in the Philippines due to the visit of the Australian premier.

The clickbait video flashes a purported “trust certificate” from West Pacific Banking Corp., dated June 19, 1962 and which supposedly matured in 2005.

As mentioned in our previous fact-check of a PweDelie video, these questionable documents are often used by Marcos defenders to claim that the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was a rich lawyer and did not need to steal from government coffers during his strongman rule from 1972 to 1986. The Marcoses were said to have amassed some $10 billion during the late dictator’s martial rule.

The latest PweDelie video did not offer any explanation or context on the supposed trust document and was followed by more than 30 minutes of official government video of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s arrival at the Malacañan Presidential Palace in Manila and a joint news conference with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Sept. 8.

Its cover image shows Albanese and Marcos shaking hands, crudely superimposed on an image of piles of gold bars.

The visit, however, was for the signing of a strategic partnership between the Philippines and Australia and the launch of a number of initiatives to boost ties between Manila and Canberra.

 

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