Philippines President Corazon Aquino has acknowledged she knew about an offer by former dictator Ferdinand Marcos to return billions of dollars in gold, but she doubted the sincerity of the offer and rejected it.

Aquino said in a television interview late Monday night her older brother, Pedro "Pete" Cojuangco, had met with Marcos' emissary, banker Enrique Zobel, in early 1987."I remember he (Zobel) talked to my brother Pete and told him about certain Marcos gold," Aquino said in an interview on Channel 7.

"So my brother came to see me, and I told him, `You know, don't meddle here because . . . people might say we (family members) are asking for something,' " she said.

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Last week Zobel said Marcos had accumulated an estimated $35 billion in gold.

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