Yamashita's Gold: secrets of caves with Philippine treasures (7 photos)

Various stories about countless treasures safely hidden somewhere in caves, forests or deserts are a common story for adventure lovers. But this one stands apart, because not everything is so simple and unambiguous with it.





General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Imperial Japanese Army buried or hid tons of gold in the Philippines. Literally tons of gold, as well as other precious metals, gemstones and works of art. What is the estimated value of all these treasures? Many billions of dollars.

Origin of the treasure



It is common knowledge that Japan plundered Asia in the years leading up to World War II. The robberies are believed to have resulted in an incredible fortune. A special team was even created, whose sole purpose was to plunder the occupied countries. The team was called "Golden Lily".

There was so much confiscated loot that it took a whole day to transport it to Japan. The Philippines was originally used as a transit point where looted treasures were loaded onto ships for the final leg of transportation.





General Yamashita

American forces became a problem for Japan when they began sinking many ships on the high seas. The Japanese imperial family decided to hide the remaining treasures in the Philippines. And it was there that General Yamashita, known as the Malayan Tiger, arose.

Yamashita was tasked with organizing and executing plans to dig tunnels and find caves in which all the gold and other valuable items could be hidden. Japanese soldiers and prisoners of war were used to dig tunnels and set up hiding places.

Unfortunately for them, once the gold was moved, the cave entrances were filled in, leaving the workers trapped inside to die.

Location of Yamashita's Treasure



A US military court sentenced Yamashita to death.

There are many theories about what happened to Yamashita's gold over the years.

According to one theory, Ferdinand Marcos, the former president of the Philippines, found a significant part of the treasure and kept it for his own personal use. During his reign, he strictly controlled searches and excavations and had to personally approve each expedition.



Rogelio Roxas poses for a photo with the golden Buddha he allegedly discovered in a cave

One of these expeditions was led by Rogelio Roxas. Roxas claimed that in 1971 he discovered a large cache of gold in a cave. A former Filipino soldier said he found a secret chamber filled with ingots in a cave north of Manila. There was also a golden statue of Buddha. The deity's head turned out to be removable. Inside the statue were at least two handfuls of uncut diamonds. The cache was supposedly part of Yamashita's legendary treasure.

He filed a lawsuit against Marcos and his wife. The man stated that as soon as Marcos became aware of his find, he was beaten and arrested, and the gold was taken by Marcos' men. As a result, the Hawaii state court (where the lawsuit was filed) ruled in favor of Roxas. He was awarded $6 million. Other historians and researchers argue that the United States received information about the location of most of the treasure in exchange for not bringing charges of war and other crimes against the imperial family. It is said that the CIA received most of this gold, which it used to finance itself.

Skeptics' doubts



A replica of the copper-bronze Buddha statue, made of solid gold, which was returned by Ferdinand Marcos after he allegedly ordered his armed forces to take the original gold statue from Rogelio Roxas

Even after Roxas was acquitted, and thanks to a number of books and other sources, there were many skeptics who doubt the existence of Yamashita's treasure, or at least dispute the volume of the treasure.

They argue that if there was as much gold hidden as the story says, then there would be many more stories about the finds. There is virtually no evidence that gold was found. Despite numerous statements by treasure hunters and Filipino aborigines to the contrary. Documentation and photographs should certainly exist. But there is no such evidence. Roxas' story is probably closest to the truth, at least in terms of evidence. But legends continue to circulate about Yamashita’s treasures, similar to those told about the lost golden city of the Incas, Eldorado.



Just a few of the more than 3,000 shoes from former First Lady Imelda Marcos' collection

There are still treasure hunters who dedicate their lives to searching for Yamashita's golden treasure.

They hope to stumble upon at least a small part of what was hidden so long ago. Perhaps most of it has already been found and helped fund the secret services and the huge shoe collection of the President's wife Imelda Marcos (she was really impressive!). When people are interested, they make every effort to search for answers and treasures. And perhaps someday the rest of Yamashita's treasures will be found.