Websites falsely connect Marcos Sr to nonexistent banks
"The Marcos family, who appears out of it in most occasions, has been exposed! Involved in a $100B money laundering?" reads a Tagalog-language Facebook post published May 2, 2025.
It was shared by the page Boldyakan, which used to support Marcos Jr but later became one of the president's fiercest .
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Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken May 22, 2025
The post links to an April 29 report of alleged documents revealing bank accounts belonging to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr -- the current president's father.
According to the report, the Marcoses used "large-scale gold transactions in Hong Kong as a cover to be suspected (sic) of conducting large-scale money laundering activities" amounting to more than US$10 billion.
It goes on to claim a whistleblower submitted the supposed documents to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on April 14.
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Screenshot of the report shared by the false posts taken May 23, 2025
The allegations circulated ahead of the Philippine mid-term polls on May 12, which were seen as a referendum on the current administration (archived link).
, joining 12 others already in office as jurors at embattled Vice President Duterte's impeachment trial, which could see the Marcos rival permanently barred from public office (archived link).
The narrative -- previously debunked by the collaborative Philippine fact-checking project Tsek.ph -- also spread on TikTok, Weibo and Douyin, as well as in publications such as the Hong Kong-based Bastille Post, Taiwanese Meihua Media and Phoenix Television (archived link).
Marcos matriarch Imelda claimed in 2013 that the family held around 6,000 to 7,000 tons of gold, although Marcos Jr denied its existence in 2022 (archived links here and here).
The Philippine Supreme Court previously ordered the Marcoses to hand back over US$ million found in their Swiss bank accounts -- a fraction of the $10 billion estimated to have been plundered from state coffers during the (archived link).
While AFP cannot independently verify the Marcos family's alleged possession of secret gold accounts, the online
Nonexistent
shared in the shows payments sent to the "International and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited" in Hong Kong.
supposed bank is identified by the unique SWIFT code "UBHKHKHH".
But that code belongs to (archived link).
Image
Screenshot comparison of the purported contract (L) and a page from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia)'s official website
The bank in question also does not appear in the HKMA's database (archived link).
shared in the articles purports to show six of the 18 accounts linked to the elder Marcos.
Image
Screenshot of the circulating document, with elements highlighted by AFP
However, multiple keyword searches indicate the associated banks do not
When asked about the online claims, an HKMA spokesperson said the agency "does not comment on individual cases," noting that "banks are required to report suspicious transactions to law enforcement agencies."
"The investigation of crimes ... is carried out by law enforcement agencies in accordance with relevant laws and regulations in Hong Kong."
AFP has previously debunked numerous myths about the Marcoses.
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