HONOLULU STAR BULLETIN
(2/20/88)

MARCOSES SUED IN CASE OF THE GOLDEN BUDDHA
By Lee Catteral
Star-Bulletin writer

A Honolulu lawyer has filed a lawsuit against deposed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, seeking $60 billion on behalf of a Philippines resident for the alleged theft of a one-ton Buddha statue and other treasures.

The Circuit Court suit was filed yesterday by attorney Ward D. Jones on behalf of Roger Roxas of the Philippines and Roxas’ The Golden Buddha Corp.

Los Angeles attorney Daniel C. Cathcart was reported by the Los Angeles Times earlier this week as saying death threats made against a Honolulu lawyer representing Roxas had stopped the suit from being filed.

Jones said the case was transferred to him this week from another Honolulu law firm. Jones said he did know the reason for the lawyer change, but he said he knew of no death threats. “To my knowledge, there have been no threats,” Jones said.

Cathcart was quoted by the Times on Tuesday as saying, “I had one of the most prominent lawyers in the state of Hawaii (to file the suit), and they unanimously decided they’d be jeopardizing their personal safety if they took on Mr. Marcos. The term assassination was used. They talked it over with their partners and decided they didn’t want to be involved.”

THE STAR-BULLETIN published an Associated Press version of the Times story, along with denials by a Marcos spokesman of any death threats.

Jones said Cathcart has told him since the articles appeared that his remarks were “blown out of proportion.”

The suit says Roxas found the treasure in the Philippines in January 1971 and that it had been hidden by the Japanese occupation forces since 1945. It consists of the golden Buddha, gold bullion, gems, precious stones, jewelry, art works, coins and other valuables worth $60 billion, according to the suit.

It accuses the Marcoses of seizing the treasure from Roxas in April 1971 and says they have sold, hidden and invested some of the proceeds.

In May 1971, the suit says, Marcos imprisoned Roxas. During the next two years, it says, Roxas was subjected to “physical beatings, underwater submersion and the administration of electrical current” to his body.

Marcos spokesman Gemmo Trinidad has dismissed the Roxas claims as “an outright fantasy – a mere publicity stunt.”

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