Senatorial hopeful vows to return Marcoses’ ‘P800 quadrillion’ wealth

Eric Negapatan speaks at a podium in Manila Hotel after filing his certificate of candidacy on Oct. 2, 2024. (INQUIRER.net / JOHN ERIC MENDOZA)

MANILA, Philippines — A senatorial aspirant on Wednesday vowed to bring back the alleged wealth of the Marcos family, reportedly amounting to “800 quadrillion pesos” for the benefit of all Filipinos.

READ: ‘Walang ginto’: Bongbong Marcos seeks closure on Tallano gold myth

Eric Negapatan made the campaign pitch, which resembled the debunked Tallano Gold claims as he filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) at Manila Hotel Garden City on Wednesday.

Negapatan promised to distribute this amount, supposedly hidden somewhere in London, to all Filipinos for their basic needs.

“Wala nang bibili ng bigas. Wala nang bibili ng tubig. Wala nang magbabayad ng kuryente,” he said in a speech after the COC filing.

(No one will need to buy rice anymore. No one will pay for water. No one will pay for electricity anymore.)

He claimed he inherited this “800 quadrillion” from Doña Josefa Marcos, mother of late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., when he was her servant in Batac City, Ilocos Norte.

“Ang lahat ng ito ay iniwan sa akin. So, sa madaling sabi, ang inilagay dito ay hindi Marcos,” he further claimed.

(All of this was left in my name. In other words, it was not named after Marcos.)

“Kung ito ay Marcos, nakuha na ito ng PCGG,” he explained, referring to the Presidential Commission of Good Government, which is tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family.

(If the heir is a Marcos, the PCGG would have confiscated it.)

Negapatan said he previously ran for the presidency in 2016 and 2022 and in the senatorial polls in 2019, but he was declared a nuisance candidate in all these political attempts.