HONOLULU STAR BULLETIN
(7/20/96)

OAHU JURY SAYS MARCOS ESTATE OWES $22 BILLION
By Kim Murakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

An Oahu Circuit Court jury yesterday awarded more than $22 billion against the estate of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos – the largest court judgment ever awarded in the United States.

The staggering award in the “Golden Buddha” trial is equivalent to one-third of the gold in Fort Knox, or enough money to keep Honolulu’s city government running for 22 years.

The jury delivered the verdict after an afternoon and one day of deliberations. Lawyers for the defense said it is unlikely any of the money would be paid.

The jury found that Marcos falsely imprisoned and abused Rogello Roxas, a Philippine man who, in 1971, allegedly recovered a treasure hidden during World War II in a tunnel outside Baguio City in the Philippines.

Jurors in the civil trial also found that Marcos went beyond his powers as president in taking the treasure, which included a 3-foot-high golden Buddha, gold bars, a coin collection, three handfuls of diamonds and a storage area of gold bullion – valued at slightly more than $22 billion.

The treasure was never recovered after it was taken by Marcos, who died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

Jurors left the courtroom without talking to reporters. Their verdict is more than twice the previous largest award in U.S. history – a $10 billion judgment against Texaco in 1985. And it is more than 11 times the $2 billion verdict that a federal judge on Oahu awarded last year for human rights abuses by the Marcos regime.

Attorneys for the Golden Buddha Corp. believe the $22 billion verdict is the world’s largest judgment ever delivered in a civil trial. But attorneys for the Marcos estate said it is just an amount on paper.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Marcos attorney James Paul Linn. “Nobody’s got that much money. There’s not a chance they can get a dollar out of this.”

Linn said much of the estate is tied up by the Philippine government, which has claims against it. He said he occasionally is paid by Imelda Marcos, the late dictator’s wife, when she can. Otherwise, he said, he represents the estate on an “involuntary pro bono” basis.

Attorney Daniel Cathcart, representing the corporation set up by Roxas before his death in 1993, said he is aware of at least $22 billion in the estate’s holdings around the world and intends to begin claiming it. Cathcart said he also believes the corporation may be ble to claim 10 percent interest on the award retroactively from 1974.

“This is Round 1 of a long fight,” Cathcart said yesterday.

The money, if it is ever received, will go to help the Philippine people, he said. Cathcart, who said his firm spent nine years tracking Ferdinand Marcos’ assets, would not specify where he believes the money is hidden, fearing attempts would be made to move it.

Although an appellate court has the power to reverse the amount, Cathcart said an appeal request would not stop the corporation from claiming the money. He also said the award was based on the value of the treasure in 1971 as estimated by a gold expert, something never contested in court.

But throughout the trial, estate attorneys questioned the very existence of the treasure, with the former president’s son, Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos, Jr., testifying that the treasure’s tale is considered a “joke” in the Philippines.

The verdict also cleared Imelda Marcos of any wrong-doing, a victory for the estate, Linn said. He believes an appellate court will reverse the verdict based on errors in the admission of evidence and possibly because of the large sum.

The Marcoses fled Manila in 1986 and lived in Honolulu.

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