Palace on Duterte's claim about gold reserves: Hindi ba 'to campaign joke?

Palace press officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro on Monday slammed former President Rodrigo Duterte for claiming that there had been a lack of transparency over the government's sale of gold reserves.

''Hindi ba 'to campaign joke ulit ni dating Pangulong Duterte?'' Castro said at a Palace press briefing.

(Isn't this another campaign joke of former President Duterte?)

''Hindi pa ba tayo nasanay doon sa jet ski promise niya? Na noong naniwala tayo halos sa mga sumuporta sa kaniya ay tinawag tayong “stupido,'' kapag naniwala ba tayo ulit sa sinasabi niyang ito eh baka mapagkamalan niya tayo ulit at tawagin tayong stupid,'' she added.

(Aren't we used to his jet ski promise? When we believed him we were branded as stupid, so when we believe again with his latest remarks, maybe we will be called anew as stupid.)

Castro said this would be taken seriously to prevent the spread of fake news. However, she said charges would not be filed against the former chief executive. 

She also said the sale of gold reserves has been a ''regular activity.''

''Ang nagtataka lang ako, bakit paulit-ulit na bini-bring up ni dating Pangulong Duterte. Wala ba siyang mga economic experts na magsasabi sa kaniya kung ano ba talaga ang regular activities ng BSP?'' Castro said.

(I'm wondering why he keeps on bringing this up? Doesn't he have any experts who will inform him about the regular activities of BSP?)

Reached by GMA News Online for its comment, the camp Duterte, through former
presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo, told GMA News Online that the government has not divulged the sale of gold reserves, as to the quantity or volume, as to how much it was sold, and as to what country, the gold reserves were sold.''

Panelo said this was despite demands from many sectors of society to reveal those information, consistent with transparency on government transactions.

In a recent campaign rally, Duterte accused the Marcos administration of a lack of transparency in the sale of gold reserves.

''Wala ta kabalo ang gold diin gibaligya ug pila,'' the former president said.

(Where and for what price the gold was sold are unknown to us.)

''They don't bother to answer, and they don't really bother to give a statement to the Filipino people,'' Duterte said. 

Last September, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) defended the sale of its gold holdings in the first half of the year, describing it as an “active management strategy.''

In its latest statement, the BSP said the country’s gross international reserves or GRI, including gold, are held and managed solely by the BSP for the foreign exchange requirements of the country.

''When BSP sells gold, the proceeds revert to and stay within the GRI,'' it said.

''Last year, GRI rose to $106.3 billion from 103.8 in 2023. Similar to other central banks, BSP maintains a portion of its reserves in gold as part of the country’s GRI mostly to hedge against offset, movements in the market price of other assets,'' it added.

The BSP said it holds some gold as a hedge against huge declines in other assets in the reserves.

''However, gold prices can be volatile, earns little interest and has storage cost, so central banks don’t want to hold too much,'' the BSP said. — AOL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News