On August 31, veteran journalist Ed Lingao shared his News5 story about the Marcos wealth, amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s claims about how the Marcoses were “willing to return” their family wealth to the government.
“President Duterte says the Marcoses are willing to return some of their loot, even some “gold bars.” After five administrations retrieved some $4 billion dollars from the Marcoses and cronies, and after repeated denials from them that there is ill-gotten and hidden wealth, now there is an apparent admission that there is more loot still hidden out there. Assuming of course that the President was not joking,” Lingao wrote.
His two-minute long News5 story discussed the mysterious wealth of the Marcoses and debunked the popular myths surrounding the sources of their wealth, including those stories about the Yamashita treasure and the 200 metric tons of gold given to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos after the war.
However, the Supreme Court had a different ruling as to the source of the Marcos wealth in 2002 and 2003. The SC said that Marcos declared only P120,000 in assets when he assumed the presidency in 1965 in his income tax returns. The Marcoses’ reason about how Marcos earned a lot during his law practice was junked by the SC, considering that he did not a law office or a prominent client during his practice.
Even with his combined salary with his wife Imelda, the couple only earned P2.3 million from 1965 to 1985, as per the SC’s computation.
This was the reason why the SC decided to forfeit the couple’s Swiss bank accounts, which contained $685 million in 2003.
In his Facebook post, Facebook user “Flippinflips” posted an almost four-minute long video slamming the “elementary level” of explanation used by the “idiot” PCGG, Liberal Party followers, Vice President Leni Robredo supporters, and Lingao.
You can listen to Flippinflips’ rant here:
On the same day, August 31, Lingao responded to Flippinflips.
He slammed Flippinflips for not even responding to the points he raised in his News5 story but made sure to put in a lot of “idiots” to gain support from other people.
“Thing is, unlike him, I quote from court decisions and official documents. Thing is, he did not even deal with the points I raised, and just merely used the video for background while he liberally sprinkles his script with the word idiot to rally his troops. I really do understand that the word idiot is close to your heart,” Lingao wrote.
“Hijo, ang talino, hindi napapakita sa pamamagitan ng angas. Lalo na kung ang layo mo naman, tapos ang layo pa ng lohika mo,” he added.
Lingao hit Flippinflips with the following points:
- He did not say that the courts cannot put Marcos’s widow and children in jail. What he emphasized in his previous story about the Marcoses’ wealth is that since Marcos died in 1989, it is not like the court can go after the survivors. What it can do instead is to go after the ill-gotten wealth, wealth that was not legitimately earned by the family.
- Where did the $4 billion worth of confiscated wealth from the Marcoses come from? Of course, they were regained by the Philippines after winning the cases they filed against the dictator’s family, disputing Flippinflips’ claim that the Philippines did not win even a single case against the Marcoses.
- He was confused as to where Flippinflips got his figure of 900 cases filed against the Marcoses, prompting LIngao to ask him, “Hindi ka mahilig magbasa ng court decisions ano?”
- And nope, it’s not TUITION FEES, but simply TUITION.
- The PC in PCGG also does not stand for “Philippine Commission” but “Presidential Commission,” which was how Flippinflips said it.
But Lingao did agree with Flippinflips over one thing.
“Tama ka. You are my “worst intellectual and academic nightmare.” Funny how you fail to realize how stupid that phrase makes you sound. But go ahead and use it, because it is the only accurate thing you ever say,” Lingao wrote.
This was not the first time Lingao hit back at Flippinflips. He also responded to the netizen over his News5 story about the Marcos’ Swiss bank accounts.
Lingao has earned a reputation online for easily #burning people through his Facebook posts and comments.
Sources: ( inquirer.net )
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