The Tallano gold story claims that before
Spain colonized the
Philippines, the archipelago and surrounding territories were ruled by a certain Tagean Tallano family, that the family owned a vast amount of gold, and that former president
Ferdinand Marcos obtained
his family's unexplained wealth by receiving some of the Tallano gold as payment for the legal services he allegedly provided to the Tallano family. Offshoots of the conspiracy theories include tales that the country's national hero
José Rizal came to the possession of the gold and bequeathed it to Marcos, that the gold reserves were used to fund the
Vatican, or that the gold was instrumental in starting the
World Bank. A related conspiracy theory is that the Tallano clan has provided of gold as commission to former President Ferdinand Marcos who became its "sole owner". The gold bars supposedly fell under the custody of the
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the country's
central bank. During the
2022 Philippine presidential election, the myth of the Tallano gold was circulated by social media pages supporting
Bongbong Marcos, son of Ferdinand. In his
presidential campaign, the younger Marcos shrugged off the claims, remarking in an interview held on March 15, 2022, with
One News, that he had not seen a single gold bar in "his entire life." The BSP also released a statement that it had no record of keeping "Tallano gold bars". == See also ==