Sandiganbayan orders release of Marcos son-in-law's properties in P200-B forfeiture case

The Sandiganbayan has ordered the release of properties sequestered from Gregorio Araneta III, son-in-law of former President Ferdinand Marcos, as it rules on the P200-billion forfeiture case against former First Lady Imelda Marcos and her children.

In a 10-page resolution dated January 14, the anti-graft court's Fourth Division granted the motion for release of sequestered properties and assets of Araneta, or some six years after the Supreme Court ruled on the dismissal of his case.

The Sandiganbayan directed the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to release the properties in favor of Araneta, husband of Marcos' youngest child, Irene.

However, it clarified the resolution only removes the administrative or housekeeping powers of the PCGG over the Araneta properties and assets.

"The court emphasizes that the lifting of the writ of sequestration will not necessarily be fatal to the main case since the same does not mean that the sequestered properties are, in fact, not ill-gotten. The effect of the lifting of the sequestration will merely be the termination of the government's role as conservator," the Sandiganbayan said.

Araneta is among the original defendants in Civil Case No. 0002, where the PCGG sought to recover ill-gotten wealth estimated to be around P200 billion and collect billions worth of damages.

The complaint accused the Marcoses of illegally accumulating funds to enrich themselves during the Marcos regime, but only the former First Family remains as defendant after the Sandiganbayan dismissed the cases against Araneta and 18 others in 2005.

The SC affirmed the Sandiganbayan decision in 2012, junking the petition for review of the PCGG.

Araneta thus moved for the Sandiganbayan to release his properties and assets in IMEXCO Enterprise Inc. and Asialand from the forfeiture case.

Araneta said the PCGG should release the properties "as the sequestration of these properties have already been long lifted and continuous custody has no legal leg to stand on."

The PCGG opposed the motion of Araneta, saying his properties and assets must only be returned upon the final disposition of the case.

The Sandiganbayan said "there is no legal basis for the same to be retained by the government" since its 2005 resolution was affirmed by the SC.

"The court loses jurisdiction over it, except to order its execution," the Sandiganbayan said.

The Sandiganbayan is nearing a decision on Civil Case No. 0002 after the Office of the Solicitor General, acting as lawyers of the PCGG, submitted its summary of arguments to the Sandiganbayan on May 8 while the Marcos camp filed its own on July 31 last year. 

The Marcos family and their cronies have 22 other pending civil cases at the Sandiganbayan. —LDF, GMA News