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In 1981, Mr. Berto Morales, a farmer working as a bulldozer operator in an irrigation project in Surigao struck gold. He discovered a treasure trove of gold ornaments while bringing down a hill to collect filling materials.

The discovery, previously unknown to the public, is among the largest collection of Philippine archaeological gold in the country as well as in the rest of the world.

Recovered in association with 10th to 13th century Chinese’s ceramics, the gold ornaments show similarities in form and iconography with artifacts of other cultures in the region. Experts believe the discovery will rewrite history.

Nothing of this scale and magnitude and magnificence has ever been seen before, says Dr. Florina Capistrano-Baker, former curator of the Ayala Museum, of the gold find.

Gold specialist Dr. John Miksic of

Last June 8, 2008, ABS-CBN televised a well-researched documentary about our ancestral gold or better yet – ancestry.

The title is “Gintong Pamana” literally pointing to the gold jewelry pieces, which were buried in Surigao. Well, I don’t exactly remember the places where it was dug but the person who lucky to find this gold jewelry named Berto Morales. He was the one who first discovered the Surigao gold treasures.

Berto Morales was a bulldozer (scraper) operator for flattening a dug ground for an irrigation project of a government agency – NIA (National Irrigation Administration). It was then when he realized that there was a shiny stuff on the ground that he went down from his truck and inspected it. It was a belt that he first saw. At first, he did not know that it was gold but since pinoy have an innovative way to check things, he went to

Any visitor to the Philippines who ask will easily know that the nation is filled of rumors of buried World War II loot, commonly known as Yamashita gold or just “Tiger Gold.” Indeed, the “Tiger of Malaysia,” was Lt. Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, commander of Japan’s war effort in the Phippines, almost nothing to do with gold. It is primarily known as Yamashita’s gold because of its military capability that allowed much of its spoilage on the continent.

Recent success stories of attempts by the late President Ferdinand Marcos to recover some golds that are unfounded and have definitely revived the gold rush in the country. Many recent discoveries have been clearly documented:

In the state of Hawaii, $22,001,405,000.00 plus interest (for $ 43,518,812,967.69 plus $11,101,044.65 each day at the time of trial) was awarded to the estate of treasure

There are many humors about the “Yamashita Treasure,” a huge amount of gold that the Japanese army had looted and hid in the Philippines during WWII in various hidden places. Some considered it as a lie but many the so called “Yamashita Treasure” hunters spend money and risk their lives to find these hidden treasures. Is it true that there is a Yamashita treasure hidden in the Philippines? Consider these facts:

Rogelio Roxas lawsuit

In March 1988, a Filipino treasure hunter named Rogelio Roxas filed a lawsuit in the state of Hawaii against the former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda Marcos for theft and human rights abuses. Roxas claimed that in Baguio City in 1961 he met the son of a former member of the Japanese army who mapped for him the location of

Aside from the tropical heat and humidity, one of the most precautionary aspects of the treasure recovery in the Philippines is the ingenuity of the Japanese engineering on these sites.

Described here are some of the hazards that treasure hunters have encountered during the excavation of Yamashita’s gold.

Water traps

The sites were often located near a water source like a pond or river. The burial site was dug as deeply as possible. Sometimes this would involve the excavation of soil and rock beneath the water table in the drier seasons. Pipes of terra cotta are then routed on the site, sealed and filled with water from the source.

Extreme caution is observed during recovery. An unwary digger can easily break one of the pipes, flooding the chamber with water. Once a tube is broken, it is very difficult to close again due to weight and speed of the continuous flow which

The quality of the concrete seal built by Japanese soldiers during their occupation of the Philippines in World War 2 is not just a simple mixture of cement, gravel, sand and water, usually applied in road construction or building roads. It is perhaps the toughest concrete cement imaginable. The presence of positive evidence shows that the strength and hardness of it is comparable to the iron steel. Based of continuing studies and research, there is a large amount of silica and quartz pyrite mixed with an undetermined amount of adhesive resin and hardener. There is also a real presence of fly ash and intrusion aid. The mixing process is poured dry method. Soil moisture serves as a slowing catalyst.

The concrete mortar is the stamp of the cache of the treasure. Its thickness varies from 0.5 to 5 meters depending on the volume of buried treasure. The