DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 June) — A Facebook account under the name Vilma Aureus appears to be making claims to have direct access to a huge amount of money and gold purportedly left behind by President Ferdinand E. Marcos for “humanitarian” purposes.
The claim is false.
MindaNews is fact-checking the profile and some of its posts as these are gaining huge engagement online, especially on reels. The posts range from the possibility of Marcos being alive to a fictional kingdom.
There are images too that are apparently promoting the propaganda by the Marcos camp that the late dictator’s regime was the country’s “Golden Age.”
Aureus has also made claims to royalty, presenting herself as a Muslim ruler with a different name, along with a male individual her relationship to whom is not mentioned.
The account’s “About” section does not contain any information and details about Aureus. It does not even indicate when the account was created. As of 22 June 2025, she has 3,350 friends, many of them from different areas in Mindanao.
One photo shows a document supposedly signed by Marcos on 12 June 1984, saying, “This certifies that Ms. Ma. Helen Abdurajak, one of my Trusted and chosen few, was given Dollar Account by Mother Account FMCA Deposited in Landbank of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines as Accredited servicing bank in the amount of USD $443,000,000,000,000.00 and equivalent deposit of Six Hundred Seventeen Thousand Five Hundred Metric Tons of AU, 70% Humanitarian Project issued on June 12, 1984.”
AU (properly Au) is the chemical symbol of gold.
Prior to and during the Presidential elections in 2022, the Tallano gold myth was among the false narratives that went “viral”. A paper dated 5 December 2022 and titled “When Fake News Infects Political Networks: Case Study of the Tallano Gold Myth in the Philippines,” states:
“Three key sets of messages appear central to the myth: 1) Marcos gold is critical for economic revival; 2) Marcos’ wealth is legitimate; and 3) the opposition wants to steal the gold. This paper finds evidence that the Tallano gold myth spread across partisan groups prior to the 2022 Presidential elections, proving difficult to overcome with mere fact-checking efforts.”
“The lessons from this case study emphasize the need to catch fake news in time to stop them from reaching virality and generating large adverse impacts on society,” it adds.
On 19 June 2025, Aureus posted a socmed card titled “The Sovereign Judges Sultan & Sultana di Jolo Sulu and North Borneo Southeast Asia Predecessor of Law 101-1902.”
Below the title are the juxtaposed images of the “King” and “Queen,” (Aureus) both bearing lengthy names. In between the two images are three logos, one of which, “The Royal Lupah Sug Empire,” is legible. The two others are blurred but clearer images are available in the page owner’s photos. One bears the text “Queen of Peace and Justice, Supreme Law and Value”
The “King” is named “Raja Mohammad Chamar Mamay Hasan Abdurajak Al Sultan Ghamar bin Abdul Ghapar Jamalul Kiram III,” and presented as “Sultan of Sulu and North Borneo & King of Southeast Asia. The “Queen” is named “Queen Maria Makiling Helen Fatima Nazaria Panolino Abdurajak Ju Xi Mulan Bin Baginda Ali Elizabeth III,” and presented as “Queen of Philippines Islands Sultana di Jolo Southeast Asia.”
Putting in “Jamalul Kiram III” is apparently meant to lend some credence to the royalty claims.
Jamalul Kiram III is the Sultan of Sulu who died of multiple organ failure on 20 October 2013. He made the headlines when on 9 February of the same year, some 200 men led by his brother Rajah Muda Agbimuddin Kiram set foot in Lahad Datu to reclaim Sabah for the Philippines. Dozens were killed in the standoff that followed.
Many of the photos on the page show people, including children, posing with tarps with images of the “Queen” and holding documents the content of which is not readable.
There are no historical records to show that the Philippines or Southeast Asia for that matter had a king or queen even in the symbolic sense, and that there is such a title as Sultana di Jolo Southeast Asia.
A research done in 1977 by renown Moro historian Cesar Adib Majul showed that the rulers of Sulu starting from Sharif ul-Hashim, the first sultan, had never used lengthy names or titles.
The phrase “Predecessor of Law 101-1902” in the June 19 post may be an allusion to The Philippine Bill of 1902, which was passed by the US Congress to temporarily provide for the administration of the affairs of the civil government in the Philippines after it became an American colony.
The Philippine Commonwealth was established in 1935 with Manuel L. Quezon as President, after the US approved a 10-year transition plan in 1934 and drafted a new constitution in 1935 that replaced the Malolos Constitution.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes fact check leads or suggestions from the public.
MindaNews is a verified signatory to the Code of Principles of the International Fact-Checking Network. (H. Marcos C. Mordeno / MindaNews)
