I met Bongbong Marcos once. In fact, I had dinner with him. To be more accurate, I was with a group that had dinner with him. He was seated beside our host, Bob Gothong. I sat across from them. That was many years ago when his father was monarch, emperor and military commander rolled into one, deeply feared and almost absolutely unchallenged.He struck me as well-mannered, not loud and, for a dictator’s son, surprisingly courteous. Of course, I was awed, so that when he politely asked if I no longer needed the calamansi near me, I gave it to him with nary a word or hesitation. He was subtle and I got the hint.Now, more than three decades after that pleasant encounter with the dictator’s son, I wish I could say that I would vote for Bongbong Marcos. But I couldn’t because I wouldn’t. My reason is simple: if elected, he would be carrying a heavy baggage to Malacañang.Not only does he have so much history behind him, his present also leaves so much to be desired. Let us begin with the enormous wealth his father left him and his sisters. They of course continue to deny the existence of such wealth but who are they fooling? There is a long line of court decisions here and abroad confirming the presence of huge bank deposits made by or in behalf of Marcos Sr. in Swiss banks.Where did all this wealth come from? Can anybody say with a straight face that they were lawfully acquired? To answer that, how much did a Philippine president earn in the mid sixties up to the eighties? What businesses were they legitimately engaged in during that same period?Will they ever return the money to the people? If so, when, how and on what condition? Two years into his term, President Duterte disclosed that he was on the cusp of an agreement with the Marcoses for the just sharing of their wealth. Bongbong and his siblings did not dispute Mr. Duterte’s story but that was as far as it went. Nothing has been heard again of the supposed equitable sharing of the Marcos assets between his heirs and the government.There have been stories circulating in social media that the Swiss bank deposits will be returned to the people if and when Marcos Jr. wins. Sadly, many among us fell for the tall tale. If there was indeed such a plan to directly distribute the money to the poor (which would be a logistical nightmare), that should have been carried out before Bongbong ran for the presidency and without being conditioned upon his victory.Bongbong would have smelled roses if they had done that and I would probably even vote for him. But he does not even bother to address the matter of hidden wealth squarely. He has avoided debates like the plague, scared that these questions would be asked (and rightly so for it is a legitimate campaign issue) and he could not decide whether to lie or to tell the truth.Let us not give ourselves up to insane fancies. The fact is that it is easier to pry a bone from a pitbull’s locked jaw than for the Marcoses to return the wealth that they say does not exist.It is bad enough that we cannot obtain restitution. It is worse when we could not even be afforded a little candor. Don’t they think we deserve that?There is going to be no closure unless we are told the truth. The questions will continue to hound him even if he wins. We cannot afford to have a president suffering from unwanted distractions. We need him to begin with a clean slate.