Topic Proposal No.

Title: The Legality of the Return of Marcos’ Golds in the Light of the Global Currency Reset
to Gold Standards

Legal Problems and Issues: In view of the ongoing concern of the global community to return to
gold as a standard for monetary value, in contrast to pegging its value against the US dollars
(allegedly a Petro-dollar), the proposal to return some of the golds of the late former-deposed
President Marcos to the government will become a great boost to the country’s economy as well as
its preparedness to this movement of new monetary currency based on gold, once central banks
around the world will agree. First, the country’s foreign exchange now with the US dollars is 54:1.
And two, though a gold-producing country, the Philippines gold reserve as of 2Q of 2018 is only
196.40 tons. The proposed return of alleged 7,000 tons (only a chunk of the pie) will dramatically
increase the gold reserve of the central bank, and subsequently, will have a great impact on the
value of the Philippine peso. In 1901, when the gold standard monetary system was first
introduced in the country, the value of the peso to dollar is 2:1.

But in the light of the country’s history with the late dictator, the existence of 2003 Supreme Court
ruling that declared assets of the Marcoses beyond $304,000 as ill-gotten, and the recognised
rights and reparations of martial law victims (made into law in 2013 as R.A. 10638) , the legality of
the proposed return of Marcos’ Gold will turn into a central issue. Is it lawful for the family of the
late Ferdinand Marcos to return the golds, which the supreme court ruled as ill-gotten wealth? Or
in the first place, is there a veracity of 7,000 tons of gold (a chunk only of the 650,000 metric tons)?
If proven existing and the proposal from the family is true, how does it will be returned? The sitting
President wanted a legislative act. However, PCGG is already long established and making
progress in recovering the ill-gotten wealths. What is a global currency reset based on return to
gold standard? And how does the Marcos Gold will help the nation on its feet to meet the
anticipated new monetary system. Will this answer the present high inflation problem?

To delimit the above issues, the thesis proponent would like to propose answer the following three
major questions:
1. What is the global currency reset based on the return to gold standard being proposed
at present?
2. What is the veracity and the legality of the claim of the Marcos family to return some of
the golds and wealth of Marcos to the government?
3. How does the Marcos Gold would help the country in its preparation towards a gold
standard monetary system?

This is purely a qualitative thesis research and will be based mainly on library research about laws,
jurisprudence, rules and regulations (such as from the PCGG and Central Bank), books, and law
journals that tackle the issue about Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth and online research for online
publications, news, and opinions about the legality of the return of Marcos Gold and the current
news and updates about the global currency reset. If library and online research will not suffice,
the writer will attempt to validate some of the issues with the concerned agencies themselves, such
as the PCGG, Press Secretary of the President, the Legislative and the Central Bank’ Currency
Issue and Integrity Office. For a balanced view, the writer will also attempt to interview the
representative of the Martial Law human rights victims, or the Human Rights Commission tasked to
implement the Reparation Law for Martial Law victims.