Rogelio Roxas Lawsuit

In March 1988, a Filipino treasure hunter named Rogelio Roxas filed a lawsuit in the state of Hawaii against former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand E. Marcos and his wife Imelda R. Marcos(who is now a congresswoman of Ilocos)for theft and human rights abuses. Roxas claimed the in Baguio City in 1961 he met the son of a former member of the Japanese Army who mapped for him the location of the legendary Yamashita Treasure. Roxas claimed a second man, who served as Yamashita's interpreter during the Second World War, told him of visiting an underground chamber where there were stores of gold and silver were kept, and who told of a Golden Buddha kept at a convent located near the underground chambers. Roxas claimed that within the next few years he formed a group to search for the treasure, and obtained a permit for the purpose from a relative of Ferdinand Marcos, judge Pio Marcos. In 1971, Roxas claimed, he and his group uncovered an enclosed chamber on state lands near Baguio City where he found bayonets, samurai swords, radio, and skeletal remains dressed in a Japanese military uniform. Also found in the chamber, Roxas claimed, where a 3-foot high (0.91m) golden colored Buddha and numerous stacked crates which filled an area approximately 6ft x 6ft x 35ft. He claimed he opened just one of the boxes, and found it packed with gold bullion. He said he took from the chamber Golden Buddha, which he estimated to weigh 1,000 kilograms, and one box with twenty-four gold bars, and hid them in his home. He claimed he resealed the chamber for safekeeping until he could arrange the removal of the remaining boxes, which he suspected were also filled with gold bars. Roxas said he sold seven of the gold bars from the opened box, and sought potential buyers for the Golden Buddha.Two individuals representing prospective buyers examined and tested the metal in the Buddha, Roxas said, and reported it was made of solid, 20 carat gold. It was soon after this, Roxas claimed, that former President Ferdinand Marcos learned of Roxas' discovery and order him arrested, beaten, and the Golden Buddha and remaining gold seized. Roxas alleged that in retaliation to his vocal campaign to reclaim the Buddha and the remainder of the treasure taken from him, Ferdinand Marcos continued to have Roxas threatened, beaten and eventually incarcerated for over a year. (The Philippines was in Martial Law during that time).

Following his release, Roxas put his claims against Marcos on hold until Mr. Marcos lost the presidency in 1986. But in 1988, Roxas and the Golden Buddha Corporation, which now held the ownership rights to the treasure Roxas claims was stolen from him, he filed suit against Ferdinand Marcos and her wife Imelda in a Hawaiian state court seeking damages for the theft and the surrounding human rights abuses committed against Roxas. Roxas died on the eve of trial, but prior to his death he gave the deposition testimony that would be later used in evidence. In 1996, the Roxas estate and the Golden Buddha Corporation received what was then largest jugment ever awarded in history, $22 billion which with interest increased to $40.5 billion. In 1998, The Hawaiian Supreme Court held that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's findings that Roxas found the treasure and that Marcos converted it....to be continued.