Claim: The fabled Yamashita gold is right under the new Bilibid prison which is why its suspended director Gen. Bantag dug a hole
Rating: FALSE
Facts: Justice Sec. Jesus Crispin Remulla said that Gen. Gerlad Bantag confided to him that he was digging for the Yamashita Gold.
Remulla said Bantag just informed him about it and he did not investigate further then as he had other things to do.
Remulla also said he was not sure if Bantag was able to secure a permit to dig for the Yamashita treasure.
Bantag denied the allegation and said that he is building a deep pool as he, a Cordilleran, is a deep sea diver.
If he is right, it is a more outrageous claim than the Yamashita gold yarn.
The Yamashita treasure is said to be the war loot of famous Japanese Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita which he has supposedly amassed from the occupied Southeast Asian nations Japan had conquered in World War II.
Stories abound but the actual haul remains disputed. Some said that the actual haul amounted to six tons of gold and a ton of precious stones.
One of the most earnest hunters of the Yamashita gold is Sterling Seagrave who wrote several books about the alleged treasure and also spent time hunting for it in the Philippines.
His most famous book about it is “Gold Warriors: America’s Secret Recovery of Yamashita’s Gold” which was published in 2003.
But a check of the book showed zero mention of “Bilibid.” There were many mentions, however, of “Intramuros,” “Baguio” and “Cordillera,” which were the suspected locations of the Yamashita treasure.
Why we fact-checked it: One, because the digging, gold or otherwise, has no permit. Second, the issue may be a ploy to distract us from the real issues which are the murder of broadcaster Percy Lapid and the corruption within the New Bilibid prison.
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