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Treasure hunting and detecting in the Philippines

Marcos fortune

You'd have to have a pretty short memory to believe that.

Several of the Marcos family have already been able to get them selves elected to political post including Imeldia and her son. They have so much wealth they can influnce and buy their way in and pay off the right people. The Marcos son ran for vice President last time but with the goverment law suites hanging over the family he didn't get it. The Marcos family money contributions to the current president cleared the way for Marcos body to be brought back to the Philippines and get a heros burial. Now President Rodngo Duterte is saying Marcos was a great leader really setting up Marcos son for when the next election comes around he has a great chance. I imagine if the Marcos family gives back a big enough amount of money ,enough to help the finiancial status of the nation all will be forgiven. Then next election another Marcos will rule the Philippines. Fun to watch and see what happens over there.
 
World war II vets

I have to wonder how much the Japanese could bury without the locals knowing. I used to sit quietly and listen to Grandpa and his friends talk about their time in the Philippines. One had been part of the Death March. A few beers and they would forget I was there. One thing that left an impression on me was their talk of the heroics of the Filipinos. According to these old white non-politically correct Veterans The Filipinos were "Tough little Sum-bitches that ain't afraid of Sh*t". I always thought that was mighty high praise from a group of guys that had been there and done that.

My dad also servied over there in the last part of the war he was based on some small island that he couldn't rember the name of he said it was a hell hole, he also didn't like to talk about. He did tell me that when he got there they told the men if they felt someone touch their necks at night not to move,if they felt your dog tags you lived. The natives would slip in to the camp after dark if you were Japanese they would slit your throat. The Philippines bolo can do a quick & quiet job of it. Like you i learned a little about it when he got togeter with his two brothers who also servied , one served under Patton. After a few beer they would talk about it some tell a few stories etc. After i was older i tried to get him to talk about it some , but he just wanted to forget about it. He did bring home some Japanese issued Philippines money as a souviner. I have had a intrest in the Philippines ever since then, read lots of books on their history, World War II accounts,and have been there several times since 1989 when i got married over there. It is a very interesting place to visit , and the people and culture very interesting.
 
Several of the Marcos family have already been able to get them selves elected to political post including Imeldia and her son. They have so much wealth they can influnce and buy their way in and pay off the right people. The Marcos son ran for vice President last time but with the goverment law suites hanging over the family he didn't get it. The Marcos family money contributions to the current president cleared the way for Marcos body to be brought back to the Philippines and get a heros burial. Now President Rodngo Duterte is saying Marcos was a great leader really setting up Marcos son for when the next election comes around he has a great chance. I imagine if the Marcos family gives back a big enough amount of money ,enough to help the finiancial status of the nation all will be forgiven. Then next election another Marcos will rule the Philippines. Fun to watch and see what happens over there.
The elections in the Philippines are very corrupt every one expects to get paid for their vote , or some other reward like improvements to their town. Many people accept money from more than one canadate.
 
found a good article on the treasure

Buried WWII Treasures in the Philippines

by Tony Wells.

You may not know it, but there are literally billions in gold, statues and other Asian looted treasures buried in hundreds of secret locations throughout the Philippines right now. No, this is not some wild, imaginative fiction story written by a bored author on a Sunday afternoon. The story The story you are about to read is based on years of research, interviews and fact. Absolutely, no fiction involved.

Because the Japanese General, Yamashita Tomoyuke (a.k.a.-The Tiger of Malaya), was in command of the Philippines when it was invaded by the Americans, these hidden treasures have become known as Yamashita's Gold or the Tiger's Gold. Shortly following the end of World War II, Yamashita was tried for war crimes and hung in the Philippines. He never disclosed any of the secret locations of Asia's buried looted war treasures.

During the earlier part of the war W.W.II looted treasures were being shipped back to Japan for badly needed war finances. However, when American patrolling naval vessels made the shipping of these looted treasures to Japan much too risky to continue with due to almost certain loss, another plan was devised.

Investigative reports show that a great bulk of World War II treasures reached the Philippines from the latter part of 1943 through October, 1944, at that period when Field Marshall Count Terauchi was in charge of the Japanese Imperial Forces in the southeast area of the Pacific. He had ordered Admiral Masaharu (then over-all military commander of the Philippines before General Yamashita) and several other admirals and generals (including Yamashita) that all war booties taken from their respective occupied territories comprising Java, Sumatra, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, and Northern India be collected and thereafter transferred to the Philippines.

Japan had always considered the Philippine Islands to be a very important strategic location for military bases in Southeast Asia. Unknown to the rest of the world, the Japanese had a major plan for post war sovereignty, and the Philippine Archipelago was included in this elaborate scheme. Once the shipping lanes became too dangerous due to American Naval vessels, almost all of the loot that the Japanese had accumulated thereafter was being channeled to the Philippines and buried. Their ultimate plan was that when the war was over they were going to withdraw forces from all the other Asian countries, but try to maintain there colonial rule over the Philippine Islands.

Under the banner of "Asia for Asians" they prescribed some reforms in the guise of nationalism. In hopes to win over the Philippine people, in 1943, the Japanese went as far as setting up a "Philippine Republic" and installing a puppet government with the Judge Jose Laurel as president. By winning over the hearts of the Philippine people and later even granting them independence, the Japanese hoped that they would then be regarded as "heroes" by them. This would also allow them to put military bases there as a pretext of "protection for the Philippine people". In this way, they could remain in the Philippines for as long as they liked and take their time to re-excavate the stolen W.W.II loot at their leisure. It was a good plan but in the end it didn't work out--the Americans invaded the Philippines in October 1944.

However, before this U.S. invasion, the Japanese were very busy hiding and securing its Asian W.W.II loot. Elaborate tunnels were dug, some down to depths of a few hundred feet, to the final "storage chambers" where the gold was to be kept. Most, if not all of these tunnels, were booby-trapped and rigged with 1,000 and 2,000 pound W.W.II bombs and poisonous gas. This trick would help deter the buried loot from falling into enemy hands. Detailed maps of the sites were drawn up on rectangular rice paper--all written in the 2,000 year-old Japanese script known as "Kungi", which hasn't been used for the past 150 years. Numerous concrete markers, which were to be left as clues, were also buried at strategic locations that would later lead the looters back to the hidden caches. These markers were in the shapes of different animals and had Kungi writing on them.

In most cases, POW labor was used to dig the intricate tunneling systems. In all cases, upon completion of securing the gold in the pits...the POWs were all executed and buried along with the treasures. In some rare cases, Japanese officers even had their own soldiers killed and buried along with the treasure to protect their secret locations.

In all there were 172 "documented" Philippine burial sites (138 land and 34 water sites) left by the Japanese. This is not to even mention the numerous "private" burials of W.W.II loot by greedy officers and renegade soldiers. There was still much treasure remaining to be buried when the U.S. abruptly invaded the islands. Japanese forces took all of this with them up into the mountains in the northern Philippines and other areas during their retreat, where it was all buried at many different locations.

It is estimated that the total worth of this war loot ranged up to three billion 1940's dollars--the equivalent of over $100 billion today. According to various post war estimates, the amount of gold bullion alone was 4,000 to 6,000 tons. Top U.S. and Japanese sources claim that it would take at least one hundred years to unearth all of these hidden treasures.

If you're wondering why the Japanese themselves haven't gone back to the Philippines to try and secretly recover some of this hidden booty, the answer is: They certainly have...but only a very small percentage of what was actually buried! Ex-president Ferdinand Marcos himself managed to recover several sites (with the assistance of some ex-Japanese soldiers) and that is how he became so wealthy.

Tony Wells is President of SEARCHMASTERS, a salvage group based in Singapore, and he is the author of Shipwrecks & Sunken Treasure in Southeast Asia.
 
A picture of Gold and silver coins taken from captured Japanese solders in Philippines , makes you wonder how many small stashes are just waiting to be dug up near land marks , old churches , waterfalls etc. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d4/40/5a/d4405a58f999779ec0a6b9949d531177.jpg

You'd think there would be more metal detectors being used over there, even a modest inexpensive one should pick up a cache of coins :shock:

It'd be neat of some of those places were close to where you go over there !
 
detecting in the Philippines

You'd think there would be more metal detectors being used over there, even a modest inexpensive one should pick up a cache of coins :shock:

It'd be neat of some of those places were close to where you go over there !

Most of the people you see detecting over there are Americans , not that many places sell detectors over there , and most people are to poor to buy one. About the only locals you see having one are looking for lost Japanese treasure .The majority of coins you would find at local beaches would be modern clad of little value. Unless you are a guest of a resort there it is hard to detect their nice clean beaches for the good jewelry. The last one I detected had armed guards to keep locals off their property. Most local beaches are extremely trashy the locals dig pits and bury their trash. The most valuable coins would be the old Spanish and American issued coins before independence. The trouble with asking a lot of private owners to detect their land is they think any thing you find is valuable and want you to give it to them.
 
sounds great

Working the cruise ships that come into the Port of Halifax I get to met a lot of the crews. made some good Pilipino contacts...and a few that detect. have the invite but thinking with the way things are now with the fleu and such I'll put on hold!
 
Wait......did someone say Corregidor? During one of many trips to the Philippines, I took a side trip to Corregidor in 2006 with my future wife and my daughter. Sure wish I'd brought a metal detector then.

Not much of original buildings is left standing.
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Yeah that's me and my lovely Jasmin.
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Guns at one of the battery's. I forget which one.
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That is a big bore! Check the date I think 1890?
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I think these were called mortars.
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Sure would be cool to go back with the NOX800!
 
Man I would love to pull the trigger on big momma thump like these! I forget which battery this one belongs to.
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I'm pretty sure this is the "Banzai photo" gun, the one the Japanese took a picture of with them sitting on it.
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This is one of the "dissapearing" guns. We were told that the clamps were undone before the last shot which blew the barrel off the mount so the Japanese could not use it.
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Yours truley at the Malinalta Tunnel entrance.
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