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Sandigan junks P200-B forfeiture case vs. Marcoses


The Sandiganbayan has dismissed the P200-billion forfeiture case against the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his surviving family members due to lack of evidence.

This is the fifth time in five months that the Marcos family won an ill-gotten wealth-related case filed by the government against them.

In a 58-page decision, the anti-graft court's Special Fourth Division ruled against government prosecutors for their "failure... to prove its allegations by preponderance of evidence."

Of the 188 pieces of documentary evidence submitted by the government prosecutors, only 24 were original copies while the rest were either certified true copy of the original, certified true copy, or photocopy.

"The bulk of the documentary evidence offered by the plaintiff are mere photocopies, most of which are barely readable. Thus, even if the Court were to defy the best evidence rule, it still could not fully ascertain the contents of these documents and make an intelligent evaluation therefrom,” the Sandiganbayan said.

"The subject complaint filed against Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda Marcos, Irene Marcos-Araneta, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and Constante Rubio is hereby dismissed," it added.

Similarly, however, the counterclaims of the Marcoses were dismissed for their failure to prove the same by preponderance of evidence.

"The Court acknowledges the atrocities committed during Martial Law under the Marcos regime and the "plunder" committed on the country’s resources. However, absent sufficient evidence that may lead to the conclusion that the subject properties were indeed ill-gotten by the Marcoses, the Court cannot simply order the return of the same to the national treasury,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The dismissal of the P200-billion forfeiture case against the Marcoses numbered Civil Case 0002 came five months after the same division granted the motion of Marcos’ widow, former Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos, and their daughter Irene seeking voluntary inhibition from Associate Justice Zaldy Trespeses to ensure impartiality.

The Marcoses sought Trespeses’ inhibition by citing his previous stint as part of the legal team of then-Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno when she penned the high court ruling reinstating Irene and her brother, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., as defendants in the case.

The P200-billion forfeiture case, filed by the Office of the Solicitor General in 1987, seeks to recover the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses "which they acquired during their incumbency as public officers; funds and other property are manifestly out of proportion to their salaries/other lawful income and income from legitimately acquired property which defendants have failed to establish as having been lawfully acquired."

P303B worth of ill-gotten wealth cases in 5 months

The Marcoses’ win in the P200-billion forfeiture case this month marked the fifth time in five months that the family won an ill-gotten wealth-related civil case filed against them by the Philippine government represented by the Presidential Commission on Good Government—the government agency tasked to recover the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

In August, the Sandiganbayan also junked a P102-billion ill-gotten wealth case against the late President Marcos and his wife, Imelda, as well as 11 of their cronies due to the prosecution’s failure to present evidence that the Marcos couple did the following:

  • participated in extending loan accommodation to Aklan Bulk Carriers, Inc., Fuga Bulk Carriers, Inc., Coron Bulk Carriers, Inc., and Ecija Bulk Carriers, Inc.;
  • appropriated revenues derived from the operations of RPN-9, IBC-13 and BBC-2 for their own benefit and unjust enrichment and income;
  • allowed their 11 other co-accused to hold and launder purloined funds for and on their behalf prior to remittance and credit to their overseas or foreign accounts; and
  • participated in the establishment of the California Overseas Bank.


By September, the Sandiganbayan has affirmed the dismissal of an ill-gotten wealth case against the heirs of Luis Yulo, identified as one of Marcos’ cronies, and the family’s YKR Corporation involving Busuanga Properties in Palawan—the property that is the subject of the still pending ill-gotten wealth case numbered Civil Case 0024 against the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies.

In a five-page decision, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division said the Philippine Agri-Business Center Corporation (PABC)—one of the intervenors in the said Civil Case 0024—only presented evidence consisting mainly of photocopies and that these photocopies were not compared with the original.

The PABC purchased the Busuanga Properties from the owner, Alfonso Doronilla, in March 1975. The Busuanga Properties, however, was taken over by Yulo King Ranch (YKR) Corporation led by lawyer Roberto Sabido and Luis Yulo in 1976 or when Marcos was already President and the country was already under Martial law.

It did not end there. In October, Sandiganbayan’s Second Division dismissed the P1.052 billion ill-gotten wealth case against Bienvenido Tantoco, Sr., the Marcos couple, among others, in connection with the Tantoco clan's 11 real estate properties located in the Philippines, Hawaii and Rome; shares of stocks in 19 companies; cash on hand and in bank; jewelry; notes, loans and mortgages receivable; motor vehicles and three Cessna aircraft.

This October ruling on the Tantoco case was upheld by the anti-graft court in November.

Also in October, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division threw out a P267-million ill-gotten case against former President  Marcos and his wife Imelda and their cronies namely President Fe Roa Gimenez and her husband, Ignacio Gimenez, Vilma Bautista and her husband, Gregorio, among others, due to insufficiency of evidence.

In this P267-million ill-gotten wealth case, the Sandiganbayan said state prosecutors failed to submit enough evidence to prove that:

  • the Gimenez Spouses acquired assets with a total value of P93,798,129.65 although declaring a total net income of only P955,273.71  from 1981 to 1985; that the Bautista Spouses also acquired assets grossly and manifestly disproportionate to their salaries or lawful income;
  • Fe Gimenez and Vilma Bautista siphoned millions of dollars of government fund into several accounts in foreign countries;  that they served as conduits of the Marcoses in the purchase of New York properties such as the Crown Building, the Lindenmere Estate, expensive works of art;
  • the accused in this case acted as dummies of the Marcoses in several corporations; and
  • the accused in this case obtained construction contracts via corporations organized by them (e.g., New City Builders Inc. [NCBI]) and thus undertook such projects as the construction of the University of Life Sports Complex and dining hall, and those for the National Manpower Corporation, Human Settlements Commission, GSIS, Maharlika Livelihood.

 

KBK/KG, GMA News

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