MikeLigalig.com

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Yamashita’s treasures includes loot from Malaysia, India, Thailand and Burma, which were all shipped to the Philippines prior to their final destination—Japan. Unfortunately for Yamashita, Japan surrendered while he was still in the Philippines. Prior to being captured and hung, Yamashita hid his treasure in 172 different places on the island. He and his crew assumed they would eventually come back for the treasure. Some sources estimate that Yamashita’s treasures could be worth billions today.

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Rogelio "Roger" Domingo Roxas (died May 25 1993) was a former Filipino soldier who had worked as a locksmith before allegedly discovering in a cave north of Manila a hidden chamber full of gold bars and a giant golden Buddha statue — which Roxas estimated to weigh one metric ton — on a plot of state-owned land near Baguio General Hospital, in Baguio City on January 24 1971. Roxas claimed that the Buddha's head was removable and that it concealed a hollowed-out portion within the statue that contained at least two handfuls of uncut diamonds. The cache was alleged to be a portion of the legendary Yamashita treasure. --Wiki

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Tomoyuki Yamashita, 1945

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FERDINAND MARCOS’ GOLD BUDDHA
http://unsolved.com/


A Filipino man finds a solid gold Buddha, then it’s stolen, possibly by Ferdinand Marcos.



Roger Roxas with Buddha


CASE DETAILS

From 1965 to 1986, Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines—first as an elected leader, then as a dictator.  By the time Marcos was deposed, his personal wealth was estimated at $10 billion.  Few dared to challenge Marcos publicly.  But on May 5, 1971, a man named Roger Roxas defied Marcos and went public with a daring accusation.  He accused the dictator’s soldiers of stealing a rare, solid gold Buddha worth millions.

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Roger Roxas and Albert hired a crew to excavate the site.  In the first few minutes of digging, they found a layer of Japanese shrapnel.  A few weeks later, the crew broke through into the tunnels, which the Japanese had apparently dynamited shut.  The tunnel system was elaborate, complete with railroad tracks.  They found that one explosion had blocked all access to the main underground passageway.  Undaunted, they dug around it.  Roger Roxas was the first to enter:

“To my surprise, I found several Japanese skeletons.  There must have been more than 10.”

Roger had stumbled upon a forgotten tomb.  It was there, that he made a shocking discovery.  Sitting in the cavity was a large solid gold statue of Buddha.  Roger and Albert were stunned.  While their crew attempted to move the 2,000 pound Buddha, the two explorers ventured further inside the tunnel.  Just as the map had predicted, there were boxes and boxes of solid gold bars.  Roxas and Fuchigami decided to dynamite the tunnel to hide the treasure.  They planned to sell the Buddha to buy trucks and equipment so they could comeback and get the gold out of the tunnel.

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Although the Philippines was a democracy, Ferdinand Marcos, along with his wife, Imelda, ruled like a king with an iron hand and brute force.  Two months after Roger brought the Buddha home, soldiers invaded his house.  The red ribbons on their rifles indicated that they were members of President Marcos’ elite Palace Guard.  Then out of nowhere, the potential buyer appeared.  Roger had been double-crossed:

“They took everything, even the piggy banks of my children. Whatever my wife inherited, all her jewelry, all the diamonds in the closet.  They took all of it. If we had fought back, they would just have killed us.”

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While Roger remained secluded, Filipino  reporters had already gotten a hold of the story.  Marcos allowed the press to view the Buddha.  But his political opponents felt that Marcos had substituted a fake.  They wanted to embarrass Marcos, so they tracked down Roger and convinced him to return to Manila to identify the Buddha.  Marcos was outraged.  Once again, Roger went into hiding.  But according to Roger, two weeks later he was tracked down by the Palace Guard:

“Three men approached me and pointed their guns at me.  They knew me.  They told me Roger, come with us in the car, we will bring you to Manila.  I could not escape.  I couldn’t escape.  I knew they were soldiers.  They had guns.  They called the palace and they were speaking English.  I knew that it was Marcos they were talking to because they addressed him as Mr. President.  Marcos must have asked them, are you sure it is Roger Roxas that you captured.  And they said yes, we’re sure.”

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After the brief visit with his family, Roger was taken back to the same hotel where he had been tortured.  But this time, he managed to escape through a window in the restroom.  After fleeing the hotel, Roger Roxas went into hiding.  He never saw the golden Buddha again.

At least two witnesses claim to have seen the Buddha at one of Marcos’ summer palaces.  Ferdinand Marcos died in 1989, but rumors persist that his family still has the golden Buddha.



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