Most countries tried to hide their wealth when they realized that the enemy was about to attack. Spain shipped all of its gold reserves to Russia for safekeeping (guess who never saw their gold again?)..
In the Philippines, while the Americans and Filipinos were holding off the Japanese at Bataan, President Quezon had twenty tons of the treasury’s gold bullion and silver pesos loaded on the submarine USS Trout and taken to Australia. Another 350 tons of silver pesos, worth more than Php15 million (almost $8 million), was dumped in the waters off southern Corregidor in May 1942 and several million dollars in paper currency were burned after the serial numbers were noted and radioed to Washington.
To this day, treasure hunters and sports divers are still trying to locate the silver pesos that were dumped in the waters of Corregidor. Is it possible that the coins have already been recovered?
Another question is – what happened to the gold bullions that were taken to Australia? Has the gold been returned to the Philippines? If it is still in Australia, where exactly is it and who is responsible for its safekeeping? ?