ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607220101
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HONOLULU
Jurors accepted claims of a stolen treasure of gold and gems and awarded a $22 billion judgment against the estate of the late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
It amounts to play money, a Marcos family lawyer said. ``There's no money there,'' said attorney James Paul Linn.
The case centers on treasure hunter Rogelio Roxas' claim that a horde of thousands of bars of gold was stolen from him after he discovered it in his native Philippines.
Roxas, who died in 1993, said he found the treasure, including a 3-foot-high gold statue of Buddha stuffed with diamonds, in a tunnel outside Baguio City.
He said Marcos' forces stole part of the treasure in 1971, and imprisoned and tortured him.
Roxas turned over claims to the treasure to a group of investors that organized as the Golden Buddha Corp., which filed suit in Hawaii, originally seeking $1 trillion.
A state court jury reached its verdict Friday after less than five hours of deliberations.
``As far as I know, it is the largest verdict probably in the history of jurisprudence in the world,'' said Daniel Cathcart, the plaintiffs' attorney.
Linn, who maintained Roxas' claims were unsubstantiated, said the verdict will be appealed, along with the judgment.
``It's noncollectible. It's Monopoly money,'' the lawyer said. ``Everything in the Marcos estate is tied up by the Philippine government and has been since 1987.''
Cathcart, however, said the company knows where the Marcos' assets are and will take the jury's verdict to those individual communities and collect the award little by little.
``This is not a paper money. This is real money and there are assets all around. We know where a lot of them are,'' Cathcart said.
Marcos died in 1989, three years after fleeing to Hawaii following a popular revolt against his government.
A Philippine court wouldn't allow Marcos' widow, Imelda, to leave the country to testify in the case. However, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did appear, and said he had never seen the alleged treasure. |- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB