The Philippines Digging for Treasure

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According to Salonga, the Aquino government found "smoking gun" documents at Malacanang Palace, the presidential residence, that link Marcos with bank deposits in Brazil, Switzerland and the Bahamas, as well as with property in the U.S. Salonga said the papers prove that Marcos used intermediaries to buy properties in New York, including a shopping complex in Manhattan and a posh estate on Long Island. Total value: approximately $350 million.

The Aquino government last week obtained a temporary restraining order in the New York State Supreme Court barring the transfer or sale of the buildings until March 19. There were allegations that Marcos had claim to vast holdings in Tarrant County, Texas, and San Diego County, Calif. And late last week Filipino bankers, lawyers and government officials charged that Marcos had received the better part of an $80 million payment in 1976 from Westinghouse Electric in connection with a lucrative contract to build the first Philippine nuclear power plant.

As the evidence of misdeeds mounted, the Reagan Administration sought to extricate itself from the quest for Marcos' wealth. By week's end the U.S. was considering asking a federal court in Hawaii to decide what to do with the crates sitting at Hickam. The Administration stoutly maintained that the Marcos party had no legal immunity from court suits or congressional inquiries. "No laws will be bent," said a Justice Department official. "Nobody is above the law."

While the struggle over the missing millions was going on, President Aquino also had to deal with more routine government business. Last week she kept her campaign pledge by releasing all known political prisoners of the Marcos era. Among them were were Jose Maria Sison, 47, founder and former chairman of the outlawed Communist Party; Bernabe Buscayno, 42, the alleged founder of the New People's Army, the party's guerrilla arm; and two members of a rebel hit squad. The four reputed Communists were freed over the objections of Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos. Aquino's move may prove to be a shrewd stroke. Both Sison and Buscayno have been in jail for nearly a decade. In the interim they have been replaced by Communist Hard- Liner Rodolfo Salas. If Sison and Buscayno try to resume influential roles in the insurgency, they could cause a split in its ranks.