A man arrested in Clark on firearms offences claimed to be the love-child of Ferdinand Marcos and chief of a shadowy UN agency.
As well as a huge cache of firearms, Edilberto del Carmen, who claimed his real name was Angel Ferdinand M Marcos, also had a metal box inscribed with the words ‘Property of the United States of America’. Inside, he claimed, were documents — including an original copy of the Treaty of Versailles.
The 75-year-old suspect was arrested on Friday (December 8) in a villa at the Fontana Leisure Park in Clark Freeport.
Chief Inspector Rommel Labalan, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said they seized three automatic rifles, a submachine gun, a pistol, five hand grenades, various magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Also arrested for obstruction of justice was an American identified as Umberto Narciso Caresia Varagnolo, aged 52.
Officers also found eight pieces of what looked like $100 bills, but made of a “hard paper-like material”.
However, most intriguing was a metal chest containing smaller metal boxes, all marked as US property.
Del Carmen (or Marcos) told investigators they contained sensitive and highly-classified documents, including original copies of historic treaties, including the Treaty of Versailles, which reshaped Europe after World War One.
Under questioning, Del Carmen claimed he was the love-child of the late strongman president and a woman called Rosalinda Marcos from Aringay, La Union. He said he was born out of wedlock on April 5, 1942.
He also claimed to be secretary-general of the “Global Infrastructure Development and International Finance Agency”, which he said was a specialised agency of the United Nations. No such agency officially exists.
However, he was able to produce an identity card that named him as a UN “ambassador for peace”. The card detailed that he was responsible for: “Investment regulatory board for Africa, Asia, USA and all refugee(s) world wide including economic refugee(s) for Office of United Nation Ambassador and humanitarian envoy for African Refugee Office, for Philippine Affairs.”
As well as the firearms charges, there were also several complaints of violation of Batas Pambansa 22 (Bouncing Checks Law) against him. It is suspected he may the the leader of a gang that has defrauded hotels and restaurants in Clark and nearby Angeles City.
His alleged half-brother, Ferdinand Bong Bong Marcos, has publicly disowned Del Carmen, calling him a “bogus”.