BAGUIO CITY – The proposed treasure hunting activities by a seasoned treasure hunter within the premises of the University of the Philippines College Baguio (UPCB) is just a waste of time, resources and effort as the perceived truckloads of gold that might have been left behind by members of the Japanese Imperial Army might have already been taken away.
Reliable sources, who requested anonymity for security reasons, claimed there were several instances in the past that have indicated that the tons of gold left behind by the Japanese at the height of World War II could have probably been taken away or there has been actually no gold deposits in the area, thus, the treasure in the UP property is only a hoax.
He disclosed that based on the provisions of Presidential Proclamation No. 807, the total land area of UPCB was reportedly 8 hectares but during the martial law years, former President Ferdinand E. Marcos issued Proclamation No. 396 that allegedly ceded 4 hectares of the UPCB property to the State-owned government Service Insurance System (GSIS) that virtually reduced the institution’s property to only a little over 4 hectares.
The source added after the ceding of the portions of the UPCB property to GSIS, the Ministry of Human Settlements through former first Lady and now IlocosNorte 2nd district Rep. Imelda R. Marcos started constructing the Baguio convention Center for the country’s hosting of the world chess championship match between world chess champion Anatoly Karpov and Victor Korchnoi.
“There was massive diggings to lay the convention center’s foundation during the time that the construction of the facility was done. WE were also surprised why there was an underground office for the facility when it was intended for the famous world chess championship match,” the source stressed.
In the 1980s, a group of the Mansion House-based Presidential Security Group (PSG) allegedly built their barracks on top of the hip inside the UPCB compound and after several days, a unit if heavy equipment was suddenly delivered to conduct massive digging activities inside the compound purposely to look for the gold left by the Japanese.
The source added the unit of heavy equipment and the operator were allegedly paid by the city government and the Benguet provincial government because the local officials then had an interest in the gold that could have been found near the former UP auditorium.
According to the source, the PSG men and the unit of heavy equipment were eventually pulled out from the area after several months of massive digging operations near the area where the UP auditorium was built.
He claimed several years back, the driveway leading to the auditorium was again dug up in the guise of putting up a structure in the area and what was surprising was that the depth of the excavation was even beyond the depth of the foundation of the UP auditorium.
He said there were again diggings that were previously done and what was doubtful was that the proposed projects of the institution were not pursued for still unknown reasons with the quality of the foundations doubtful. On whether there is still treasure in the area, the source believes it could have already been taken away during previous excavation activities in identified areas where the deposits were left.
By HENT
