Switzerland has agreed to a request from the Philippines for help in tracking down millions of dollars linked to the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

A spokesman for the justice ministry, Folco Galli, said it had approved the request for legal assistance and passed it on to the Zurich justice authorities.

In March the Philippines authorities made a formal request for Switzerland's help in tracing $13 billion. They were acting on reports that Marcos's daughter, Irene Marcos-Araneta, had tried to transfer the money from a Swiss bank account to Germany.

According to a statement released by German prosecutors, a woman using Araneta's name opened several accounts earlier this year at a Dusseldorf branch of Deutsche Bank. It said the woman had wanted to transfer large amounts of money to the bank.

The Swiss federal banking commission carried out checks last year and reported that it had not found any accounts belonging to Araneta with UBS.

If the new Swiss investigation now uncovers funds connected to her, it's expected that Manila will call for all Araneta accounts to be frozen.

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