In Search of Gold



The stories in this book are my experiences recovering gold in the Philippines over a five-year period that started with a simple trip to Manila, at the request of a Mexican businessman, to assist with a gold transaction he had put together with a Filipino businessman.

During those years, often armed with an M16 machine gun, I managed to explore the whole Philippine archipelago from Aparri at the top of northern Luzon to Zamboanga in southern Mindanao. My mode of travel varied from a stainless steel jeep to flying with ex Air America pilots to hidden locations in fixed wing aircraft and military helicopters as well as pleasure cruiser around the seaways. I was often in the Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera Central and Sierra Madre Mountains on foot, searching for and recovering treasure sites, long hidden in the jungles and caves along the Aurora and Isabela coastlines. This applies also to the mountains of Mindanao.

I had many exciting adventures and some downright dangerous, often coming under fire from opposition groups. This opposition came not only from other treasure hunters but included the police, military, and ex CIA operatives (mercenaries) who had their own private agendas and members of Japanese groups who were watching over some of the remaining major sites.

During those five years I was to meet and become friends with Robert (Bob) Curtis. I visited his home in Nevada where I was invited to examine many of the thousands of documents in his possession concerning Marcos and his gold transactions. I was able to see various engineering drawings of the sites Curtis opened for Marcos that resulted in the recovery of 600,000 tons of gold for Marcos. This was just the beginning as Marcos recovered 13 of the 175 recorded sites. At the time of writing this book, the CIA and a number of private groups are still working on several recoveries.

This book is my attempt to show the Yamashita Gold story from the other side.

Review of the Book

Must reading for anyone interested in gold hunting or the secret world of goldtrading! Like a great adventure novel, it's packed with gripping, page-turning adventures, murders, high-speed chases, and treachery at every turn. But it's all true. Tom Cyran is one of those rare authors who has lived through every one of these high adventures, with his feet on the ground in the Philippine jungles. He knows all the power-players, from the Marcoses and the army generals, to the New Peoples Army, the Moslem rebels, and aboriginal villagers who have discovered vast hoards of Japanese war loot from World War II. Tom's job was to see if the gold was real, then bring in buyer's who could get the gold into the world market. Go with him, and you're guaranteed a terrific read!

Sterling Seagrave, bestselling author of GOLD WARRIORS and THE MARCOS DYNASTY.