Sandiganbayan junks Locsin group's appeal on dismissal of P1.3M suit

MANILA, Philippines - The Sandiganbayan has junked with finality the P1.3 million lawsuit filed by a group of the group of businessman Enrique Locsin against the stockholders and officials of the Philippine Overseas Telecommunications Corp (POTC) and the Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. (Philcomsat). The anti-graft court ruled that the lawsuit should be lodged at the regional trial court since it has no jurisdicton over it despite the fact that the fact that he two corporations involved are sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). “After perusing the arguments raised in the motion for reconsideration and the supplement thereto filed by plaintiffs, the Court find no indubitable ground to reverse or set aside its resolution promulgated on August 15, 2007 that dismissed the instant complaint,” the Sandiganbayan’s First Division said. “The law is clear and unequivocal that for the Sandiganbayan to acquire jurisdiction over a case, the subject mater thereof must … refer to the recovery of the ill-gotten wealth of late President Ferdinand Marcos, his family and associates, and all incidents arising from, incidental to or related to such cases,” the court added. The case stemmed from the lawsuit filed by Locsin, claiming to represent both Philcomsat and POTC as an appointee of the government, last September 25, 2005 to stop the Africa group from taking control of the two firms. The Africa-led boards were elected by the corporations’ stockholders. Likewise, the court maintained its reprimand on Locsin and his lawyer Sikini Labastilla over the finding that they ommitted material facts in the complaint, which misled the court into issuing an injunction against the takeover of POTC and Philcomsat by the Africa group. It noted that the plaintiff and his counsel misrepresented that the case can stand on its own only to petition the court later on to consolidate the complaint with another pending case. At the same time, the court noted that a similar action had already been raised before the Court of Appeals when the case was brought to the Sandiganbayan. - GMANews.TV