Background of Japanese Treasures

PART I

This attempt to share a history, is just an attempt. It is so difficult to be factual about the history because this is one of the biggest secrets in the history of WWII, the Holocust being the biggest of all.

Historical information on Japanese treasure is not, again I would say, not exact. It was featured twice on National Geographic in 2003/04.  Some of the best accounts on the Yamashita Treasure were “The Sterling Seagrave’s”; “The Marcos Dynasaty”; a Faucette Columbine Book, published by Ballantin Books in 1988.

On top of those already known, I want to share from some other treasure hunters who also wrote their own accounts. One is from the workbook of Jimmy R.McCormick, Treasure Hunting in the Philippines which was handed to me by a friend Malou from Pasay City as an exchange for some information I had which she did not have. McCormick had researched for more than 20 years and was generous enough to share his workbook with friends.

Another is from Jim Brown who spent more than 30 years in this country, spent time and money and hope that one day the three-book series will be sold and he and his wife could make more from it. Unfortunately none of his books were published. Mainly, he lived in fear because he believes he has so much information that top officials will run after him.

Another American treasure hunter, known as “Jones, the buyer” spent his time entertaining Filipino hunters and verifying treasure finds. He share a lot, likes to educate new treasure hunters, has tons of information, but he does not like writing them down.

And still another one source is from Glen Tolentino, a single Filipino mestizo, educated and intelligent young man who lives somewhere in Sta. Ana, Manila, lent us
a compilation about an inch thick of Japanese Markings.

Three of them are Americans and have stayed long in the Philippines and died in the Philippine soil. All of them married Filipina girls much younger than their ages. The ladies are their ears and provided them the understanding of the Filipino culture. Some Americans could hardly detect if the Filipino is merely extracting money from them or they are for real. So their women provide them that assistance other than, keeping the house for them and having benefits of being a home-mate.

Fortunately, we had a chance to be privy to the lives of the treasure hunters, Jim and Jones. All three claim that these tons and tons of gold were from the gold reserves of European countries. As Germans began to aggressively move towards their country, they moved their gold reserves to the Far East before the breakout of World War II. The Japanese knowing where the treasures are in Asia, they invaded the Asian countries such as China, Korea, Malaysia and Philippines, and looted their treasures. A large quantity was brought to the Philippines.

As the battle was turning against the Japanese armies, Yamashita attempted to load some of the gold and ship them back to Japan. However, it was too late as the American Fleet had sunk most of the cargo ships (Japanese ships). For a long while, the Japanese kept the gold to have a better control of the reserves/treasures.

To quote from the workbook of Jim McCormmick, “In this respect, near the end of the war, General Yamashita ordered ech of his military Commanders to distribute various volumes of these treasures down to the Command level Officers where it would still be manageable, yet where responsible people were charged with specific guidelines with engineering support to mark, bury and map each site for historical purposes.”
“Most documents disgree on the actual amount buried by General Yamashita and his Commanders because the documentation were not submitted or returned to the central repository for military record.” Or their Japanese troops assigned to bury the treasures did not survive the traumas of war. Backgrond of Japanese Treasure in the Philippines by Jim R. McCormmick, page 5.

But the amount buried and agreed upon by treasure hunters is a staggering figure, maybe as much as 500.000 metric tons of gold bars. And of course we have heard of many ex-Japanese soldiers from WWII return to the Philippines, and visit sites year after year. From 1946 up to late 70’s, numerous local groups from the Philippines have also attempted to locate these treasures. We hear that only a small number of treasure hunters have become successful in this endeavour. We hear that those who have had some success are those living in burial sites or where the Japanese officers encamped for a long period of time.

In 1972, Marcos declared Martial Law and treasure hunting was placed under the direct control at the very top. During 1972 to 1986 unclear accounts indicate that approximately one-forth of these vast amounts of treasures were uncovered. Some say it is purely speculative. But if this were true at least 250,000 metric tons of treasure is still waiting out there. To this day, there has not been an account of newly uncovered treasures.

Seagrave accounts that “With the Japanese conquest of East and Southeast Asia, the Japanese had come to loot beyond dreams. Gold and gems were confiscated from private citizens, churches, temples, banks, monasteries, corporations and fallen governments – an from the gangster syndicates and black money economies of each nation. After Korea and Manchuria, loot came from China, Indochina, Thailand, Burma, Malaya, Borneo, Singapore, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies; A vast hoard of gems, jewelry, gold Buddhas, bullion, public and personal treasures.”

Seagrave also mentions that much of these treasure form East and Southeast Asia came from “illegal funds, unreported assets, illegal earnings, criminal profits, black market proceeds, secrete hoards of gems and precious metals and other forms of black money that existed in Asia (back then.) Seagrave’s references are from several sources it is worth quoting his material.

Fake Markings & Landscape of the Vicinity

Upon entering the territory, we found that spot of chiseled and marked stones with the stone face.  I have shown you earlier the stone face with an arrow pointing to it.  That arrow (right picture) actually points to the direction of the tunnel.

I took this picture if the stone outlined by a white chalk with my back facing the tunnel.


We continued to explore the area and went around the tunnel to observe more markings.  About 20 meters away, we saw another spot with several large solid rocks and observed the markings.  We noticed two large rocks which were flattened and disfigured with some meaningless markings on them. The diggers were responsible for destroying the original marks to confuse unwanted treasure hunters. Unwanted would mean those hunters they do not trust and can not make money from them.

Norman in maong is standing on the rock looking down, while the digger shows him some markings that were part of the original work of the Japanese. Unfortunately, it was so disfigured, it was not good to use it as a basis. We presume that the markings were so clear it would have been easy for other treasure hunters to guess where the deposits are.  To keep unwanted treasure hunters, the diggers disfigure the rocks.  We believe they took pictures of the original Japanese markings but were never shown to us.  I remember the diggers were always present and tailing us when we move around.  We observed that the diggers were trying to lead us elsewhere and would not answer some of our questions.

Anyhow, by following that arrow pointing to the stone face you would soon see the tunnel.  There is little guess work to do.  And, when the scanner was brought to the site, it made strong reading at certain positions, particularly near the tunnel entrance.

Riff rap was built on the left side of the tunnel to prevent the soil from eroding. (The picture below shows the riff rap on the right side.  The workmanship of the riff rap reveals unique well-planned work of art that the local town folks would not do such a thing for no reason.  The area was just a plain ordinary forbidden looking place, it would make no sense for anyone to create such work with finesse.  Only those with serious reason will such work be established in a forbidden place... interesting, huh.
                                                  
 
In this left picture, Norman together with two other men (unfortunately unclear in the picture) to his right are seated on the ground looking at the tunnel, discussing the Japanese story to him. On the right side is where the riff rap is located, several feet in length, maybe eight meters, and more than five feet high. 

I took this picture while I stood across the tunnel with my camera purposely showing the men seated and the riff rap on the right side.

Around the tunnel (tip of the point of arrow) are some large stones about 18" x 12" with markings on them too.  We believe they are original.  It appears that the diggers in that area were not as experienced and keen to detect the marks were actually from the Japanese.  You see unless you are experienced, have researched or widely read you really will not make any reading at all.

Amazing Markings on Rocks

There are several markings around the area, but there were few that gripped me when I saw them.  Some rock formation were deliberate.  They were not borne out of nature's creative power.  You know they were not created by God's hands.  The rocks were deliberately chopped cracked, chiseled to create the signs they want and give directions for themselves.

Notice the picture on the right.  Norman is clearing the ground around the stone.  Follow his hand.  Do you notice the face of the woman? To me she looks like a woman lying down but to others the face looks like the face an innocent young person lying on the ground. 

Notice this picture on the left.  I used Adobe Photoshop to darken the surroundings of the stone face.  This is just to emphasize the stone face.

I went just a little farther and transferred at a less oblique position to the stone face.  Notice the white chalk that we run following deep marks. At the tip of the Y, right hand is a diamond mark pointing to the face. Y means an underground passage.  This could mean that down below this head is an underground passage to the tunnel.

Notice the close up of the face from the top.  It still looks like a face, but it isn't as pretty when taken from the side.  But looking closely at the face, the eyes and mouth were definitely chiseled

PROJECT MORNING GLORY!

Morning Glory is the name of project in the highland in Binangonan which we started in January 12, 2003.

The exact location we cannot reveal to you to protect several gold diggers who are living in the vicinity to this day.  This project was financed by Norman and myself mostly from whatever money was left of our export business.  We were assisted by a Pastor who believes there are buried gold in the area.  To be sure, we went to the site several times.  At first it was an ocular visit, then went back to investigate closely to be certain we were not throwing our money away.  We also sought the advice of some hunters who had done diggings and who looked to us educated enough to help us assess.  We would have consulted diggers who were already successful.  The fact is, those who are successful are no longer in the country.  So we have no choice but to turn to other hunters who have more experience, have read more, and have gone to other sites more than others. 



Before we started anything, we made sure that there are markings, some cryptic signs and maps found around the area.  Here are sets of markings which we found on stones, walls at the mouth of the tunnel.  Actually, there are so many more markings in the site, but for some we were not too sure whether they are markings deliberately produced by the Japanese or natural contortions created by nature.  So we chose to note down only those we felt were significant based on some published markings of other hunters that will show you later:

The meter swung to the extreme right,

maximum

One other important thing we needed to do was rent a gold scanner to check if there are deposits underneath the target area.  We could not afford other expensive scanners that could tell you the volume of deposit underneath and the various metal deposits underneath.  All our scanner could do was to signify that there is substantial amount of metal deposits which otherwise, the meter will not move.  

A THOUSAND WORDS

Do you think we were the only ones who got preoccupied with gold treasures? Look at this extremely busy lady.  She went to the same place we went to, and sat on the same bed, leaned on the pillows inside the tiny room of this "gold holder".  She must have been awed as were by the stories, signs and pictures the buried treasures.

Nope, the gold bars were not shown to her at that time.  She saw pictures of the gold bars as we have seen their pictures.  (I have the picture in my file, but the pictures are too dark.)  But for this important person to travel more than five hours to know more about Marcos gold and all, she must have been intrigued by the stories.  Looking at this picture with her Secretary for the Department of Social Services and Development, we can tell they were listening intently, awed, mesmerized!  The fact is, their stories are often fascinating. 


Here is another interesting picture of the bars I personally saw, touched, weighed and where my small samples of gold pieces came from.  The first time I saw the bars was in the back of the Toyota Tamaraw FX.  We had to be seated at the front seats to protect their gold from us.  We could extend ourselves down to the back and hold the bars, quite a difficult position, but that was the closest they would allow us to come near to their gold bars.  The holders are often so neurotic over their gold, we had to go along with their so called "procedure".  They are always concern about procedures and system that even if you offer a large amount just to see the gold, they will not.  They have to examine you, test you, try you out, before they would allow you to see their holdings.

There was this weighing scale the holder lifted up, put it to zero or the arrow pointing to the center, while we placed the bar on it.  I asked my friend Martha (not her real name here) who claimed she is an expert to be with me.  She has been gold hunting for several years.  We were only about 2 months into it.  We weighed the bar but was not exactly 6.2 kilos.  In fact it was only about 6.1 kilos. It is tapered, and in size when we measured the bar it was about 2" x 6.2" at the top, a little less than 3" x 6.5" at the bottom, and about 1.25" in thickness. The color is much more dull and rather rough compared to the fake picture I showed at the beginning of this page. The bottom by the way is not totally flat and not levelled well.       

Now, when we started, I paid P3,000 as down payment to pay for the gasoline and the "aunt of the owner".  The arrangement was I would pay them an additional amount on a staggered basis should I assess for myself the bars to be true and have the small pieces tested by jewellers.  If I am not convinced that the bars were real gold, then I don't have to pay them anything more.

An enlarged picture. There are different markings of buried treasures.  What I saw twice was Burma with three stars.

 

We bore a hole through the Burma bar that we weighed and measured.  I agreed when the "gold holder" said he would bore through one particular bar that we weighed.  Otherwise, several bars will have plenty of holes if everyone would be allowed to choose any bar at random.  I agreed because it was measured to the right size and weighed almost 6.2 kilos.  I presumed not all bars would be exactly to the exact weight.

To me, it was an exciting moment to hold the few pieces gold in my hands.  I was the one who unwound it around the drill bit.  I knew it was real which was confirmed when Norman when he tested it with his gold tester using the manual system, rubbing it on a dark smooth stone, pouring a high concentrate of nitric acid on it and comparing the color with the different gold karats which he would rub just beside the sample.  Our gold looked higher than 22 karat gold!   

Quite frankly when I felt I would be paying more if I were convinced, I wanted to get the most out of my money.  I asked that we take a picture of the gold inside the Tamaraw.  These gold holders are somewhat neurotic and terribly suspicious, he vehemently objected to the idea afraid that we will take pictures of him and the lady aunt sitting at the back of the van.

Instead, they asked for pictures of my family and took pictures of the bars with our pictures in it. This gold holders have their hide-out somewhere in Cavite but we could never get a hint where in Cavite is it.  So, I gave them the wedding picture of my eldest son and of my husband.  Unfortunately, I lost the original copies of the  pictures to some friends who borrowed them to show-off to their buyers.  Back then, it did not seem so important to have the original pictures, until this blog.

Gold & Treasure Hunting Experience in Brief

If you are wondering what this is all about... it is exactly what it is about - GOLD TREASURES  in the Philippines.  It is about the stories of the treasures hidden by the Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines which began way before World War II. Which explains why we hear stories about Japanese presence (in plain clothes) in the Philippines living among ordinary folks before WWII.

These stories have lured treasure hunters from all around the world, about cryptic maps that allegedly lead to the treasures buried by Japanese soldiers in the Philippines in more than 100 sites before Japanese commander General Tomoyuki Yamashita surrendered to American troops in 1945. 

We too were lured by it, my husband Norman and I, and hundreds if not thousands of Filipinos.  After all we thought we should be the ones to appreciate and benefit these rather than the foreigners.  We both saw gold, we dug gold, we experienced living a life intensely preoccupied by gold hunting activities.  We saw our finances depleting, yet our hopes were so high we did not care how depleted our finances were because of the promise that "it is there, just one night away from it," or "it is just a day away from the treasure."  Well, it never happened.

But, so we could spare you from impatience wanting to know our own side of the truth, our belief is that this Yamashita gold is true!  And the fantastic story about Marcos' successful diggings at Fort Bonifacio and other places were probably true.  We have met several people who claimed they were part of the diggings financed by Ferdinand Marcos, whether they were giving us tall tales, we can't say.  Because we have seen bullion gold ourselves at different times with different sets of gold holders, so, yes, we believe there are tons and tons of buried gold in our country.

My husband Norman and I, Marj, got pretty much involved for about two years in gold treasure hunting.  I tell you, it was one of the most exciting and fascinating time of our life!  Have I seen gold myself, real 6.2 kilos, YES,  about 24 pieces of them, and held them in my arms, YES at two at different times, we measured the tapered gold and weight them to our satisfaction, YES and our companion bore a whole through one bar which we took for ourselves tiny samples!

Did my husband see those I saw, No.  But he saw for himself one piece of real 6.2 Kilos and also witnessed the American, Jones, pick up an eight-inch golden Budha hastily!  Fortunately, he caught it on time otherwise, it would have broken his toes to pieces.  He forgot the Budha is extremely heavy. 

So what is our background, why should you believe us?  Well for almost six years we were in the Jewelry (underground) business, producing them in Bulacan and selling them to offices and friends.  Both of us had to study at TLRC, Technology and Livelihood Research Center about jewelry making, weighing gold and assessing its value and we had to take the course on pawnshop business as well. We were successful in it while we were at it, until we went into the export business, where we experienced more success for more than 10 years.
 
As days go by, I shall reveal to you our experiences, some exciting, some really dangerous.  I have the habit of documenting everything we do as I am research-oriented.  I have lots of pictures with me, unfortunately I threw away several and gave away some to those who were dying to see one, if at least have pictures of gold bars. I also have a compilation of Japanese markings and signs and will give you details of the digging we did somewhere in Binangonan, Rizal.  Unfortunately, we can not reveal to you the exact location because some diggers to this day live there, waiting for financiers to come by and believe their stories.