The Status and Disposition of the Recovered Marcos Assets

Social media is undeniably one of the biggest cancers to plague the modern world. But even outside the modern world in isolated backwaters like the Philippines Twitter remains a formidable threat to the collective intelligence of the nation. Just look at this tweet from someone who is 100% behind Bongbong Marcos so much so that she has lost the ability to think.

https://twitter.com/baLaw846/status/1534360642739896320

This is not the stupidest tweet she has tweeted out of her tweeter but it is representative. 

Has the PCGG ever produced an accounting of all sequestered and forfeited assets, proceeds from the sale of these assets, and what happened to the proceeds?

And then the response from way out of left field from some clown who apparently lives in Macau and has a troll name.

None that we've known of.

Everything about the answer and the question is wrong. Did the man forget that aside from civil cases Imelda Marcos is a bonafide convicted felon? The question is bait to get those who read it to think that the PCGG has never released such a list because no-ill gotten wealth was recovered. That is literally what this lady told me!

https://twitter.com/theadtan/status/1533445760099835905

Not proven in court, sorry. And no evidence to prove.

What a load of bunk. The Supreme Court says otherwise.

https://hrvvmemcom.gov.ph/ill-gotten-wealth-recognized-by-the-philippine-supreme-court-2/

On July 15, 2003, The Supreme Court of the Philippines reaffirmed the Sandiganbayan’s initial decision, concluding over 25 Billion Pesos worth of Marcos Assets as ill-gotten wealth. In its decision, it reiterated a number of key facts: 

1.Throughout the proceedings of the trial, Imelda and her children had in fact admitted to the existence of said deposits and their ownership thereto. In one instance, Imelda and her children denied clandestinely stashing the country’s wealth in Switzerland, stating that such assets had been legally acquired.

2. The five foundations imputed into the case were established precisely to hide the money stolen by the Marcos spouses. Imelda did not deny the existence and authenticity of her own signatures on several files proving her ownership over said funds and said foundations. These included documents under the names of “Jane Ryan” and “William Saunders” – which actually referred to herself and her husband Ferdinand, respectively. She had even admitted in 1998 before the Sandiganbayan that she was the sole beneficiary of 90% of the subject matter in controversy with the remaining 10% belonging to the estate of Ferdinand Marcos. 

3. The assets acquired by the Marcoses and kept in these deposits are manifestly disproportionate to their salaries as government officials. The only known lawful income of the Marcos Couple from 1966 to 1985 was determined in the sum of US$304,372.43 – the equivalent of P2,319,583.33 at the time. It is keen to note that neither Ferdinand nor Imelda filed any Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SAL) as required by law, from which their net worth could be determined.

4. As public officials, neither Ferdinand nor his wife Imelda were even allowed to engage in the management of foundations. This was held by law under both the 1935 Constitution and the 1973 Constitution which was created under his administration.

This tweeter is pretty stupid. The proper way to resolve this question is to send an FOI request to the PCGG not shout out loud in Twitter for socmed points. Thankfully someone did this already and only a few weeks ago on May 16, 2022.

List of Assets Sequestered from the Marcos

Response to Request 

Your FOI request is approved. I enclose a copy of the following 

1. Recovered and Litigated Assets 

2. PENDING PCGG RECOVERY and Other Related CIVIL CASES 

3. WON & ADVERSE JUDGMENTS PCGG RECOVERY of Ill-Gotten Wealth Cases

Here is a list of recovered Marcos ill-gotten wealth and the status of their disposition.

I can just hear this twitter person tweeting, "THIS IS NOT ENOUGH!!" And you know, I get it. This is not a detailed breakdown of every asset recovered and its disposition. But this is what we have to work with. So, there are several bank accounts and stock portfolios which have been remitted to the treasury. It appears that 5 of 11 recovered properties have been sold. 15 of the paintings have been fully remitted to the Bureau of Treasury while it's not clear where the other 693 are. In 2018 3 paintings recovered by the United States were sold at auction. It appears this happened without the knowledge of the PCGG.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/684551/3-paintings-from-marcos-collection-sold-at-christies-s-auction-osg/story/

“The OSG had no prior knowledge of the sale and the details thereof or the supposed court order. While counsel for petitioner has requested the PCGG for details, the documentation is still forthcoming,” the OSG said.

The OSG “profusely apologized” to the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan—the lawful custodian of the paintings—and vowed “to provide further information as they become available.”

It is unclear whether or not the proceeds were remitted to the Philippine government but because these paintings are from the USA and thus foreign assets it would seem that the money has been fully remitted to the Bureau of the Treasury per the graph above.  There were also painting auctions in 1987, 1991, and 1999. In 2019 the Marcos family was ordered to forfeit 160 paintings.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/12/20/1978434/sandigan-forfeits-marcos-24-million-ill-gotten-paintings

“In sum, petitioner Republic was able to establish the prima facie presumption that the paintings and artworks valued at $24,325,500 acquired by the respondent spouses were significantly out of proportion to their aggregate salaries of $304,372.43 as public officials,” the ruling, penned by Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz read.

“Aside from the unsubstantiated ‘lack of sufficient knowledge’ in their Answer, respondents failed to present evidence to overturn the presumption that the paintings and artworks were unlawfully acquired. Hence, the forfeiture of said properties in favor of petitioner Republic is warranted,” it added.

The jewelry is being appraised so it can be sold at auction. Duterte approved this back in 2019.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1071501

President Rodrigo Duterte has “officially” ordered the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to auction the jewelry collection of former first lady and now Ilocos Norte 2nd District Representative Imelda Marcos.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, in a message to reporters, confirmed that the Office of the President (OP) has officially informed the PCGG about the formal order to auction the PHP700-million jewelry collection.

The PCGG first asked permission to auction the jewelry collection in November last year.

"OP has officially informed PCGG that it interposes no objections to the proposed activities relative to the disposal of the Marcos Jewelry Collections, subject to compliance with existing laws, rules and regulations,” Medialdea said.

Strangely enough Imelda Marcos' shoes are on display in a museum.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-02/imelda-marcos-shoe-museum:-the-excess-of-a-regime/7877098

The museum's main feature is a portion of criminal convict and former First Lady Imelda Marcos's shoe collection (749 pairs as of 2020).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marikina_Shoe_Museum

Now, of course, there is more to this story. The majority of funding of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARP) comes directly from recovered ill-gotten Marcos wealth. The PCGG's latest report has more info on this.

https://pcgg.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2020-PCGG-Accomplishment-Report.pdf#page=12

The PCGG has provided substantial funding for the CARP, one of the social justice measures of the 1987 Constitution.

Under Section 63(b) of Republic Act 6657 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, among the sources of funds for CARP are receipts from assets recovered and from sales of ill-gotten wealth recovered through the PCGG. Pursuant thereof, the PCGG has remitted the net proceeds of the disposed surrendered assets, to the BTr for the account of CARP from 1987 to December 2020, the total amount of Seventy-Eight Billion, Nine Hundred Thirty-Four Million, Five Hundred Forty-Nine Thousand, Ninety-Three Pesos and 15/100 (P78,934,549,093.15). 

These remittances were used to implement various CARP related projects, such as: construction of farm to market roads, bridges, irrigation facilities, acquisition of post harvest facilities, rural electrification, potable water supply, school buildings, extension and training services, credit assistance, scholarships grants, creation of Agrarian Reform Communities nationwide, and farmer organizations, and other related agricultural projects.

In addition, the PCGG has recovered and transferred to DAR 1,650 hectares of agricultural lands which were later distributed to farmer beneficiaries of Cavite and Laguna. While another vast tract of land in Biliran Province consisting of 1,407 hectares was transferred to the provincial government and distributed to legitimate farmer beneficiaries of the province.

This same report has a whole section on the disposition of the recovered assets noting that several items went up for sale.

 

1. Published disposable properties for 2019 as approved by PrC.

2. Conducted Marketing and Sales Activities for 16 real properties with approximate value P59M for 2019.

3. Assisted the Privatizations Division in Marketing to reach the potential buyers of the PCGG Properties.

4. Posted Notices of Sale for disposable properties in different government offices bulletin boards.

There is also a section where the PCGG documents show they monitor and preserve the properties which remain in their possession.

There have also been several property auctions. 

https://pcgg.gov.ph/pcgg-to-auction-marcos-ill-gotten-properties/

In March 2022 the BIR announced they will be auctioning off 11 more properties formerly owned by the Marcos family.

https://mb.com.ph/2022/03/28/bir-to-rebid-11-seized-marcos-properties/

This was disclosed by retired Tacloban City Revenue Regional Director Estrella V. Martinez whose information was later confirmed by revenue officials on condition that they should not be named.

Martinez said that when she was still with the BIR, she tried then to sell the properties in 1997 but disclosed that no one showed interest in buying any of them. The same happened to the other sequestered assets from the Marcos family located in Quezon City, San Juan and elsewhere.

There were also property auctions in 1993 and 2012. In 2013 there was another property auction announced which also featured stock portfolios and media firms once owned by the Marcos family.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/philippines/philippines-government-expects-windfall-from-sale-of-ferdinand-marcos-assets-1.1171081

The exercise, which will be held over two years, will auction off 16 properties, 28 share portfolios — seven of them in oil companies — and 400 pieces of jewellery owned by former first lady Imelda Marcos, now a congresswoman.

The PCGG is also offering a total of P4 billion (Dh355.3 million) for two media entities: P3 billion (Dh267 million) for the sale of assets and the franchise of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp (formerly Channel 13); and P1 billion (Dh88.8 million) for DWAN Radio.

Also included in the sale are seven shareholdings of business associates that fronted for Marcos in oil companies such as Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp, Benguet Consolidated Inc, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co, Oriental Petroleum and Mining Corp, Philodrill Corp, Philippine Oil Geothermal Energy Inc and Trans-Asia Oil and Mineral Corporation.

The PCGG is also selling the share portfolios of Marcos business associates in 11 other firms — Chemfields Inc; Imperial Insurance; Marcventures Holdings Inc; Philippine Airlines Holdings Inc; Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co; Phil Overseas Telecommunications Corp; Phil National Construction Corp; Puerto Azul Golf and Country Club; Oceanic Wireless; Radio Phils Network Inc; and Showa United Food Inc.

I would be remiss here if I did not mention the COA's recent accusations against the PCGG for not properly cataloging all recovered assets.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2022/06/10/2187278/pcgg-flagged-over-unrecorded-ill-gotten-wealth-recoveries

The Commission on Audit (COA) has called out the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) over 122 art pieces and P54.61 million in surrendered or recovered stocks which remain unrecorded in its books.

In its 2021 PCGG Annual Audit released recently, the COA noted “laxity in the monitoring and recovery efforts” in connection with the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and their alleged cronies.

For instance, 772,594,488 shares of stocks worth P54.614 million, which were surrendered by the defendants or were recovered by the government, remain unrecorded in the PCGG’s books as of Dec. 31, 2021.

The COA said that while the PCGG reasoned out that a majority of the shares of stocks were already inactive, the entire amount should have still been inventoried in its books.

“The non-recording of the surrendered/recovered shares is tantamount to voluntarily giving away possession and control of what is due to the government and without due regard to existing accounting and auditing rules and regulations,” the COA report said.

It pointed out that instead of outright non-recognition of the surrendered and recovered stocks, the PCGG could have requested the inactive ones to be dropped off from its books but only after submitting the “appropriate documents to support its derecognition, pursuant to existing accounting and auditing rules and regulations.”

In the same audit report, the COA also called out the PCGG over 122 pieces of artwork which are not entered in its books as of end-2021.

“One hundred twenty-two pieces of surrendered artworks such as paintings, statues, jars, framed wood carvings, wood carvings, tapestries, lithographs, framed cross-stitch artwork, wine goblet, upright piano, decanter, collage, brass item, abstract, news clipping, framed news print, drawings, plaque, and brass sculpture found at PCGG station remained unrecorded in the books of PCGG, thereby understating agency’s Abandoned/ Surrendered Property/Assets account by its total fair market value which are yet to be determined,” the COA said.

The COA recommended that the PCGG direct its Asset Management Department to “verify the accuracy of the inventory report, cause the appraisal of properties and coordinate with the Chief Accountant for proper accounting/recording in the books.”

Meanwhile, the COA said the PCGG’s laxity in transferring titles over several surrendered or recovered shares of stocks to the government led to the non-collection of dividends since 2005.

First of all one should not be shocked that an office of the Philippine government is plagued with mismanagement. That is par for the course. Second of all this news item only serves to confirm that ill-gotten wealth was recovered. Some of it wasn't documented properly which means there is more recovered than what is listed in the official FOI information above. Hopefully the PCGG can set it's bearings straight and fully document everything recovered from the Marcos family. 

There you have it. That is the status and disposition of the recovered Marcos wealth. It might not be as detailed as one would wish but this is the information which is publicly available. To pose questions that seek to undermine the reality that ill-gotten wealth of various kinds from paintings to land to stock portfolios have been recovered from the Marcos family and that this was all done in a court of law does a grave disservice to the nation. The fact is the Marcos family robbed the Philippines blind and enriched themselves. The PCGG has recovered some of the assets acquired by the Marcos family. And now that Bongbong is in the driver's seat recovery of what remains will be hard going if not altogether impossible.

FQ Fry Queen

No originality. That is how it is in the Philippines. The latest business to mock an existing business is  FQ Fry Queen.

This is obviously a play on Dairy Queen but there is no dairy here just fried stuff. Look at that menu. What is the difference between a burger and a hamburger?

It appears that the hamburger has no meat! 

Honestly this place looks rather boring. It does not appear much different from any of the roadside "restaurants" I have seen and eaten at. They just happened to rip off the name of an American institution, Dairy Queen.

Yet More Coronavirus Signs and Situations: Coronavirus Essential Packs

File this under yet more coronavirus signs and situations. People are definitely trying to make money off the pandemic. While sellers have been instructed not to inflate the price of face shields and face masks there's a more subtle con happening.  

These are COVID essential packs sold by a local pharmacy. Let's take a closer look.

In this first pack we have hexetidine bactidol and throat lozenges. Both of these products are used for sore throats.  One to suck and one to gargle. 

In this pack we have Cosmo Cee and Centrum.  That is Vitamin C and a multi-vitamin. 

In this COVID essential pack we have facial tissue, vitamin C I think, and Phenylephrine which is a decongestant.

This COVID essential pack is just ascorbic acid which is vitamin C. 

Now for the break down. COVID-19 is a virus which can effect the lungs, the brain, and even the heart. And it can last for months.

Most people who have coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recover completely within a few weeks. But some people — even those who had mild versions of the disease — continue to experience symptoms after their initial recovery.

These people sometimes describe themselves as "long haulers" and the condition has been called post-COVID-19 syndrome or "long COVID-19."

Older people and people with many serious medical conditions are the most likely to experience lingering COVID-19 symptoms, but even young, otherwise healthy people can feel unwell for weeks to months after infection. The most common signs and symptoms that linger over time include:

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Cough
• Joint pain
• Chest pain

Other long-term signs and symptoms may include:

• Muscle pain or headache
• Fast or pounding heartbeat
• Loss of smell or taste
• Memory, concentration or sleep problems
• Rash or hair loss

Although COVID-19 is seen as a disease that primarily affects the lungs, it can damage many other organs as well. This organ damage may increase the risk of long-term health problems. 

COVID-19 can make blood cells more likely to clump up and form clots. While large clots can cause heart attacks and strokes, much of the heart damage caused by COVID-19 is believed to stem from very small clots that block tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the heart muscle.

Other parts of the body affected by blood clots include the lungs, legs, liver and kidneys. COVID-19 can also weaken blood vessels and cause them to leak, which contributes to potentially long-lasting problems with the liver and kidneys.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-long-term-effects/art-20490351

All of that is from the Mayo clinic in Minnesota. They make COVID-19 sound rather awful and for those who are already unhealthy it probably is. So will Vitamin C help prevent the virus? How about a multi-vitamin? Throat gargle? Do I need to tell you the answer is a resounding "No?"

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-c-coronavirus

No supplement will cure or prevent disease.

With the 2019 coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, it’s especially important to understand that no supplement, diet, or other lifestyle modification other than physical distancing, also known as social distancing, and proper hygiene practices can protect you from COVID-19.

Vitamin C won't help you though it sounds good. This pharmacy is selling the public the appearance of health and prevention but in reality it's all bunk. What you have here is an opportunistic company doing what their kind always does and that's attempting to take your money. Don't give it to them.

Coronavirus Lockdown: The Fabunan Antiviral Injection Fraud

Thanks to a long time reader who turned me on to the videos I am going to review in this post. The Youtube channel is Bong Hermosa and from the looks of it his channel is about "How to Earn Your Millions the Quick and Easy Way."

https://www.youtube.com/user/joshua12094/videos

Though this channel has existed since October 2007 it only has 389,905 views. 369,000 of those views are from a very recent video:

https://youtu.be/9TAlucqbpxE

With it's bad English, robotic narration, silly sound effects, and over the top surprised faces this video is absolutely hilarious!

According to Dr. Willie Fabunan who has clinic in Olongapo City and San Marcelino Zambales Philippines, that his antiviral injection can cure, the novel corona virus. 

Dr. Willie Fabunan said that this antiviral injection, is also a medicine that he is using for HIV/AIDS positive patients. 

A lot of his HIV positive patients were healed using this anti-viral injection. 

He invented the medicine for novel coronavirus 30 years ago. 

He invented the medicine for the novel coronavirus 30 years ago!!?? You mean a cure for HIV/AIDS was discovered right here in the Philippines 30 years ago??

But what is this antiviral injection composed of?

"It is composed of procaine, dexamethasone, and glucosteroid." 

Glucosteroid is an anti-inflammatory, procaine is a painkiller that works similarly as cocaine at high enough doses, and dexamethasone is used in treating breathing disorders. The narrator goes on to tell us that this cocktail has been used by Dr. Fabunan to treat some of his COVID-19 positive patients and that the ingredients to make this antiviral injection are readily available over the counter. This antiviral injection can be used to treat many ailments. The trick is mixing it just right.

The Fabunan family of doctors have for years now been treating patients with dengue, chikungunya, dog bite, snake bites, and even HIV/AIDS with their anti-viral injection.  According to Dr. Willie Fabunan, his anti-viral injection is a combination of drugs anyone can buy from drug stores over-the-counter. 

“We just change the ratio of these combination drugs in treating various ailments,” Fabunan said in stressing the safety of the drug combo.

https://manilastandard.net/mobile/article/320553

A medicine that cures various ailments and acts as either an anti-viral or an anti-venom based solely on the ratio of elements in the mixture?

Exactly. It's totally unbelievable.  The narrator goes on to say:

The president of the Republic of the Philippines is very much eager and his trying his best effort to find the cure for COVID-19. As the present update about the medicine for COVID-19, President Rodrigo Duterte is now arranging the medical authorities to test the effectiveness of the Fabuana antiviral injection for novel corona virus. The FDA visited the Fabuanan medical clinic as inspection, for the application of license to operate, to use the antiviral injection for novel corona virus treatment. The FDA is trying their best to do the processing or the approval for the said anti-virus. The Fabunans are trying their best to submit all the necessary requirements for the approval from FDA and Department of Health. If the antiviral injection by the Fabunans would be approved by the Department of Health and by the Food and Drugs Administration, we will have the medicine for novel corona virus that is made in the Philippines.

At this point in the video there is the sound effect of a large crowd cheering which drowns out the narrator and will make your ears bleed if you are wearing headphones. Then we have this:

One need not be a doctor to know this whole video is bunk. Three ingredients mixed at different ratios are not going to cure snake bites, dengue, HIV/AIDS, or COVID-19.  Snake venom is not a virus and not all viruses operate in the same manner. Not to mention there is no known cure for HIV/AIDS which makes Fabunan's claims rather dubious.

Will there be a vaccine for the coronavirus? COVID-19 does not absorb into cells which is why finding a vaccine looks hopeless at this point.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/coronavirus-vaccine-never-developed-warns-21890093

“Coronavirus doesn’t get into you, it stays on the surface cells in your lungs," he added. "All these flu viruses get into you, so the body can fight and makes T cells. 

“This virus doesn’t kill the cells, it makes them sick. At the moment we don’t know how to make a coronavirus vaccine work. That’s why there are 100 vaccines under testing using every conceivable approach. 

“We don’t know if any of them will work.”

But a cocktail that acts as both an antivenom and an antiviral will surely cure COVID-19. It's total nonsense and Fabunan has not even submitted any papers to the FDA as of April 14th.

As of April 15, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the Philippines has not yet approved the Fabunan Antiviral Injection. It is not included in FDA's list of registered drugs. 

In a text message to Rappler on April 14, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said there is “no CPR (product registration) application submitted to FDA” in relation to the said antiviral injection. 

In an earlier statement on April 8, the FDA warned the public against the use of drugs or vaccines that are not yet certified to treat COVID-19, particularly the Fabunan Antiviral Injection and PRODEX B. 

https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/fact-check/257981-philippines-developed-coronavirus-cure-already-approved

Perhaps this photo posted on the Fabunan Antiviral Injection Facebook page on April 18th is a product registration application?

https://www.facebook.com/108027014182453/photos/a.108209520830869/125013625817125/?type=3&theater

PRODEX B is also being touted as a possible cure but the FDA has warned the public against it. PRODEX B is not so different from the Fabunan antiviral injection. Only one ingredient has been changed. It is composed of procaine, dexamethasone, and vitamin B instead of glucosteroid. The Manila Times ran an opinion piece touting the alleged benefits of this drug.

The potentially good news, however, is that we may have our own remedy right here in the country, reportedly curing patients with Covid-19 symptoms in Subic. 

If and when proven safe and effective in clinical trials now being sought — a gigantic if, since actual testing has yet to be set — the antiviral drug Prodex-B, combining the anesthetic procaine, the steroid dexamethasone and Vitamin B, could bring speedy recovery not only to Covid-19 patients, but to locked-down economies. 

The procaine-dexamethasone formulation has already cured a broad spectrum of deadly viral illnesses, as doctors and researchers attest: acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), several dengue strains, chikungunya, leptospirosis and influenza — which is similar to Covid-19. Since our own outbreak, the remedy has been given by injection to patients with coronavirus symptoms, including one tested positive, with total success. 

So, said physicians at the drug’s proponent, Health For Life Clinic (HFL) in Subic. Patients showed improvement in as little as half a day and full recovery in 24 to 48 hours. HFL medical personnel have also been injected as a prophylactic or preventive measure — a potential boon to frontliners. No HFL staff have shown signs of Covid-19 despite exposure to patients with symptoms. 

(Disclosure: The writer is not a physician and cannot endorse any drug. He is part of a team formed by Covid-19 cure pioneer online advocate Ruby Ann Kagaoan to arrange clinical trials with the Department of Science and Technology [DoST] and its Philippine Council for Health Research and Development [PCHRD], which contacted the Philippine College of Physicians. Her team also requested East Avenue Medical Center [EAMC], the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health [ASMPH], the De La Salle University [DLSU] Health and Sciences Institute, the University of Santo Tomas [UST] Hospital and Medical School, local governments, the military, and the police.)

https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/04/16/opinion/columnists/mr-president-the-antibody-we-need-may-be-here/714416/

Another miracle concoction which claims to cure AIDS, the flu, and dengue. Wow! How are Filipinos so smart and no one wants to recognize their efforts? How is the Manila Times so careless as to run this opinion piece about a drug which the FDA recommends against?

Despite the outlandish claims made by the promoters of PRODEX B it remains unapproved by the FDA and has no proven benefits.

Manufacturers and vendors of unlicensed products such as PRODEX B and the Fabunan Antiviral Injections have been informed regarding the process and requirements to register their products with the FDA Center for Drug Regulation and Research (CDRR). No applications for product registration have been filed to date. Until such products are proven safe and effective for use in the treatment of COVID-19 they cannot be dispensed to the public nor can therapeutic claims be made.

https://ww2.fda.gov.ph/attachments/article/669350/Press%20Statement%2018%20April%202020.pdf

If PRODEX B and the Fabunan antiviral injection are everything their creators claim them to be then why have there been no trials?  No peer review? No approval by the FDA? Why hasn't Duterte awarded them the P10 million prize for discovering a vaccine and cure?

On to the next video which was actually posted a few days before the one just discussed.

https://youtu.be/-6IJ1iqDwq4

This short video lists a few home made cures for COVID-19. According to this video, "In the absence of medical solutions, people are turning into home made cure for corona virus.

I don't want to spoil the video so I will just show you my favorite claim and cure.

The coronavirus can be seen as a "Pepper deficient Syndrome" and eating pepper soup can offer protection.

Rather than eating pepper soup I think it would be better to follow the advice given towards the end of this video which is seek medical attention with professionals because there is no cure for COVID-19.

Funny how this video says there is no "specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat the COVID 19" and yet a few days later this channel posted a video boasting about a cure being invented 30 years ago!

It's all a lot of fake news and the worst of it is all the positivity and gullibility in the comment sections of these videos. From The God Culture to Healing Galing to fake COVID-19 cures it seems Filipinos are willing to believe anything.

The God Culture: Ancient Greek Armor Found In Mindanao

Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture bolsters his claims that the Philippines is the ancient source of Greek gold, as if there were no gold mines in ancient Greece, by claiming that ancient Greek armor has been found in Mindanao.

https://youtu.be/kWjFtcV_6Nc

Beginning at 5:27 Timothy Schwab says:

"When we visited Butuan, Philippines in May we were actually able to see this Greek armor which was found in 2018 in the Philippines. The thing is these are indisputably Greek from the symbols and the structure and they are dated all the way back to 800 B.C. up to about 480 B.C. "

Now that is indeed rather interesting don't you think? Ancient Greek armor was found in Mindanao and dated between 800 and 480 B.C.? That would be a huge archaeological discovery seeing as Alexander did not even reach India until 326 B.C.! It would mean Greek soldiers marched or sailed to the Philippines BEFORE the Peloponnesian War. What can one do in the face of such overwhelming evidence that the Greeks were in the Philippines possibly only 300 years after the Trojan War? Question it and tear it apart of course.

I don't doubt that Timothy saw this armor. It obviously exists. Just look at the pictures. But where did he see it? A museum? Somewhere else? A search for news about this discovery leads to one and only one source which is a Youtube video posted by Kasaysayan Hunters on April 30th 2019.

As to the provenance of this discovery I think you will not be shocked to hear that these artifacts appeared suddenly out of nowhere.  From the video:

"In 2018 locals in Mindanao were surprised to find armor of a type they have never seen before complete with helmets and weapons, soon sold in the Philippine antiquities market. We were fortunate enough to track down two sets of these amours which may give us important insight into our ancient past." 

That is some stunning documentation right there. Unnamed locals found armor of a kind they had never seen before at an undisclosed location and quickly sold it on the Philippine antiquities market. What is this Philippine antiquities market anyway? Sounds like there is a thriving trade in antiquities on the black market in the Philippines.

The video offers no clue as to the origin of the armor. Rather than question its authenticity the narrator assumes it as a fact and goes on to describe all the details like the lions heads and anemones and gorgon heads carved into the armor as being genuinely Greek. They even expect us to believe that ancient Greeks wore helmets decorated with tokay geckos which are native to the Philippines and not Greece! Did the Greeks manufacture these helmets while in the Philippines?

The axe decorated with a lion's head we are told is a battle axe. Because when you want to kill someone in battle you definitely don't want an gigantic axe with a huge smooth, sharp edged double head.  You want a short and stylish decorative piece.

Here is a picture of the set in full.

Lots of questions need answering.

Where and how was this armor found?

How many more sets were found and where are they now?

What other artifacts were found in the vicinity?

Did any archaeologists visit the site where this armor was found?

Why is the armor in relatively good condition?

Who dated the armor to between 800 - 400 B.C. and what method did they use?
Has Greece been notified of this discovery?

Have any experts in Greek antiquities examined these artifacts?
What kind of tests have been run on this armor?  Metallurgical?

Where are these artifacts now and why does it look they are sitting on a house porch?

Is this the "Philippine antiquities market?"

Safe at home on the porch?

As Indiana Jones would say:

Apparently Tim and the God Culture did not think to ask any of these questions but accept these pieces as genuine ancient Greek armor with zero proof except that they look like Greek armor. One thing to note is that the pieces lying on the table are of a darker color than in the photo showing the full set.  That brings up a few more questions.

Where these pieces cleaned?
What were they cleaned with?
Were any kind of tests run on this armor before they were cleaned?

An image search for "Greek muscle cuirass" and "ancient Greek battle axe" gives results that look nothing like the armor above. There is armor with fake abs but not with lion heads and celestial wheels for nipples. Maybe such did exist but they are not coming up in any search online. And believe it or not those Greek battle axes have more of a Tibetan design than Grecian.

It's obvious that Tim does not believe these artifacts are genuine ancient Greek armor because they have been rigorously and thoroughly tested by experts and found to be so. He believes because it confirms his thesis that the Philippines is the ancient land of Ophir. He ignores what is so obviously gives away the fraud which is the tokay gecko on the helmet! But this would not be the first fact that Tim ignores.

To prove that the Greeks visited the Philippines Time produces a map, made in 1898 mind you, and points to two little islands labelled Chryse and Argyre and says this is Luzon and Mindanao!  Pray tell what happened to the Visayas?  You know, Negros, Iloilo, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, and all the rest which lie in between Luzon and Mindanao! His map and his assertions cannot account for them. Here is the map he shows.

What is the source of this map anyway? Well if you're not paying attention you will miss the reference which is in VERY TINY PRINT in the bottom left corner.  Let me show you.

Contrary to what the God Culture has claimed that is NOT 30 point font!

He even claims our sources are in very tiny print yet there are a 30 point font thus rather disingenuous as we have come to expect from this communist-style agitator. If you are viewing it on a cell phone screen perhaps it is small but plenty big when we create our slides and all right there to review which this writer has done with their confirmation bias.

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-god-culture-100-clues-philippines.html?showComment=1580698889368#c5406023618075777202

I am viewing this on a 13-inch Macbook Pro and it's barely legible!! You have to zoom in to read it properly. It also doesn't help that there is a God Culture watermark superimposed over the map which they took from another source!! The source is atlantisjavasea.com. Specifically it is this page: https://atlantisjavasea.com/2015/09/26/taprobana-is-not-sri-lanka-nor-sumatera-but-kalimantan/. This is a web page dedicated to proving that Atlantis was located in Southeast Asia. Goodness knows how Tim ended up on this page but it should be noted that the map is an 1898 reconstruction of Mela by Konrad Miller. Mela himself never drew a map!

It should also be noted that Tim ignores all the scholarship regarding the identification of Chryse, Argyre, and the Golden Chersonesus which he encounters. In the book by Thomas Suarez which he cites the islands are identified as Malaya and Burma while the Golden Chersonesus is identified as the Malaya Peninsula. Has he read this book by Paul Wheatley?

https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/v692t6367

While the book is not available online the table of contents are and there is no hint of the Philippines. The subtitle also gives the game away.  "Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before A.D. 1500."

There is simply no credible evidence that the Philippines are the islands Tim says they are or that the Greeks were ever here. However there is an article that makes this assertion which Tim has likely come across.

The Visayan Islands had earlier encounter with the Greek traders in 21 A.D. 2  (Felix Regalado and Quentin  B. Franco, History of Panay  (Ilo-ilo City  Central Philippines University , 1973) ed.,  Eliza B. Grimo, p. 78.)

http://cebu-online.com/swum/html/exhibits.html

Over at a message board about history this question of Greek traders in the Philippines was raised and the book cited as the source of this information, History of Panay, was located and the appropriate section quoted.

Professor Austin Craig, eminent student of Philippine history, said that the ancient traders of the Philippines exported sinamay cloth to Greece in A.D. 21 and Strabo, a Roman geographer of the First Century, referred to the commodity as "Ta see sika", or 'flex combed from the trees'. Manila hemp was well known to the Caesars of Rome, and sinamay cloth was once sold to the museum of Dresden, Germany for its antiquity.

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/46708/did-greek-traders-visit-the-philippines-in-the-1st-century-ad

If you cross check the reference from Professor Austin Craig which is found in "A Thousand Years of Philippine History Before the Arrival of the Spanish" you find this subject of ancient Greek contact with the Philippines on the very first page.

The Philippine History of which one is apt to think when that subject is mentioned covers hardly a fourth of the Islands' book-recorded history.  

These records are not the romantic dream of a Paterno that under the name Ophir the Philippines with their gold enriched Solomon (l0th century B. C). They are solider ground than any plausible explanations that Manila hemp (abaka) was Strabo's (A. D. 21) "ta seerika," the cloth made of "a kind of flax combed from certain barks of trees." The shadowy identification of the Manilas with Ptolemy's Maniolas (c. A. D. 130) is not in their class. Nor, to accept them, is recourse needed to farfetched deductions like Zuniga's that the American Continent received Israel's ten lost tribes, and thence, through Easter Island, Magellan's archipelago was peopled. Their existence saves us from having to accept such references as how Sinbad the sailorman (Burton: The Arabian Nights, Night 538 et seq.) evidently made some of his voyages in this region, though it would not be uninteresting to note that the great Roc is a bird used in Moro ornament, the “ghoul" of the Thousand and One Nights is the Filipino Asuang and that the palm-covered island which was believed to be a colossal tortoise because it shook might well have been located where the Philippine maps indicate that earthquakes are most frequent.  

The records herein after to be cited are for the most part of the prosaic kind, all the more reliable and valuable because they are inclined to be dry and matter-of-fact. They make no such demand upon imagination as Europe’s pioneer traveller's tales, for instance the- sixteenth century chart which depicted America as inhabited by headless people with eyes, nose and mouth located in the chest. 

https://archive.org/stream/thousandyearsofp00crairich#page/n7/mode/2up

Read that carefully and see that the authors of the "History of Panay" misrepresent what Austin Craig writes.

Professor Austin Craig rejects the "romantic dream" of the Philippines being Ophir and Greeks trading in these islands. Instead He focuses his scholarship on written records and calls them "more reliable and valuable."  On the other end of the spectrum Timothy Jay Schwab and the God Culture latch on to every kind of myth and legend and reject what scholars have to say in order to promulgate their doctrine. Men like Professor Austin Craig and Thomas Suarez do history while Tim and his bunch engage in pseudo-history.

Let's say these are real ancient Greek artifacts and not just fakes manufactured by locals in Mindanao. That would change so much of what we know about history. It would mean that the Greeks were either sailing around Africa long before Bartolomeu Dias did in 1488 or marching overland to the East hundreds of years before Alexander. In short it would be a groundbreaking archeological discovery and the area where the armor was found would certainly be excavated for more artifacts. But since the source of our knowledge of these antiques is only one Youtube video and there are no scholarly references to this find in reputable journals and no news reports either it is a safe bet that this ancient Greek armor is a modern-day fraud. The Philippines may be the ancient land of Gold according to The God Culture but today it is most certainly the land of frauds, cheats, and thieves.