Sandiganbayan: PCGG failed to present valid govt claim to 'kickbacks' for Marcos through Genito firms

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) established the wealth-amassing link between former President Ferdinand Marcos and his "favored minions" but failed to present valid claims to the alleged cronies' assets or entitlement to damages, the Sandiganbayan second division said in a decision. PCGG lost the hidden wealth case in spite of the absence of any response from the Marcoses or the alleged minions. Civil Case No. 0004 is one of the first few hidden wealth cases of the PCGG. It was filed in 1987 and the PCGG took 25 years to pursue it. In their decision promulgated April 19, the Sandiganbayan justices said "the transactions were private and were not with any government agency or instrumentality, it cannot be reasonably said that the Government would be prejudiced if the fruits did not go to government coffers.” Associate Justice Teresita V. Diaz-Baldos, chairperson of the second division wrote the decision while Associate Justices Napoleon E. Inoturan and Oscar C. Herrera Jr. concurred. “Under the obtaining circumstances, therefore, the Court finds that plaintiff Republic has failed to establish convincingly its entitlement to the ‘kickbacks’ or commissions from the transactions,” the justices said. PCGG estimates placed the value of the disputed assets at P1.24 billion in various stockholdings and P195 million in real properties. Respondents in the case are former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, former First Lady now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, and businessman Andres Genito Jr., a former councilor of Quezon City from 1976 to 1980. Other respondents and alleged dummies were Ludivina Leonardo, Raul V. Genito, Benito Genito, Elesia Vargas, Asuncion Castillo, Norma Canonigo, Andres Genito III, Abundo Garrido and Yoshio Kotake. The PCGG alleged that Genito used several corporations to amass kickbacks for Marcos. Atakaco Trading Corp., Tandang Sora Commercial Traders Inc. and Capital Industrial Traders and Management Consultants were the purported corporate dummies. Some of the PCGG evidence on the link between Marcos and Genito were sourced from documents seized from the Marcoses when they arrived in Hawaii after the EDSA revolt in 1986. - ELR, GMA News