Introduction to the Scandal
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) extraordinary gold sales in 2024 have raised suspicions about the central bank’s involvement in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former speaker Martin Romualdez’s alleged plot to steal billions of pesos through kickbacks from flood control projects. The sheer scale and timing of the BSP’s gold disposals, which made the Philippines the single biggest central-bank seller of gold in the world, have sparked concerns about the central bank’s motives.
The Unusual Gold Sales
In the first half of 2024, the BSP sold roughly 24.9 to 25 tons of gold, slashing the share of gold in its reserves. This move was unusual, as most central banks were still net buyers of gold at the time. The central bank defended this move as "active management" to lock in gains and rebalance its reserve mix. However, the global context undermines the innocence of the timing, as the Philippines chose to cash out aggressively just as geopolitical and financial risks were rising.
Record Profits and Dividends
The BSP’s 2024 net income exceeded historical norms, reaching over P100 billion and setting a post-1993 record. The profit surge was connected to two factors: a step-up in interest income from international reserves as global rates stayed elevated, and sizable realized gains from selling gold that had been acquired at much lower historical prices. The BSP’s gold sales directly translated into a much larger dividend space for the Treasury, which is used to bankroll the administration’s infrastructure projects.
Suspicious Patterns
There is a convergence of patterns that makes the central bank’s 2024 behavior suspicious. The timing of the gold sales, the fiscal architecture, and the opacity of the transactions all raise questions about the central bank’s involvement in the alleged plot. The BSP’s gold sales may have provided a crucial source of funding for the government’s infrastructure projects, which are now under fire for corruption.
Questions and Demands for Transparency
The BSP must answer important questions about its 2024 gold sales, including whether the Monetary Board explicitly discussed and quantified the dividend and fiscal implications of the sales. The central bank should also disclose an audited breakdown of 2024 income by major asset class, including realized gains from gold sales. The demand for granular transparency is crucial in a setting where hundreds of billions of pesos in flood-control appropriations are now under suspicion.
The Blurred Line between Technocracy and Politics
A central bank cannot hide forever behind the fiction that it is an apolitical technocracy floating above the muck of patronage politics. When its balance sheet is actively mined to feed a presidency that presides over ghost projects and contractor cartels, it becomes fair to argue that the Bangko Sentral may not just be an innocent bystander in the Marcos regime infrastructure scandal, but a structural participant whose 2024 gold gamble made the looting easier to finance.
Conclusion
The BSP’s unusual gold sales in 2024 have raised concerns about the central bank’s involvement in the alleged plot to steal billions of pesos through kickbacks from flood control projects. The suspicious patterns and lack of transparency surrounding the transactions have sparked demands for answers and accountability. As the central bank’s actions have blurred the line between technocracy and politics, it is crucial to pose the question: was the BSP willingly or not folded into a de facto funding architecture that underwrote a massive, leakage-ridden infrastructure spree? The answer to this question will have significant implications for the country’s economic and political landscape.
