Palace: Up to SolGen whether to appeal junking of P200-B forfeiture case vs. Marcoses

It is up to Solicitor General Jose Calida whether his office will appeal the dismissal of the P200-billion forfeiture case against former President Ferdinand Marcos and his family, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said on Tuesday.

Panelo made the remark after the Sandiganbayan Special Fourth Division ruled in favor of the Marcoses and Constante Rubio, citing lack of sufficient evidence.

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

“That’s for the SolGen to decide. We will not preempt,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters on Tuesday.

The anti-graft court said bulk of the documentary evidence submitted by state prosecutors were “mere photocopies, most of which are barely readable.”

Without sufficient evidence that may lead to the conclusion that the properties in question were indeed ill-gotten by the Marcoses, the Sandiganbayan said it cannot simply order the return of the same to the national treasury.

“If there are no documents to be presented how can you make the lawyers be accountable for that?” Panelo said when asked if government lawyers should be sanctioned for the outcome of the case.

“Any government is concerned with any case filed by it against perceived 1transgressors of law but in the final analysis, it’s the court that will always decide whether you have a case or not against the accused.” —NB, GMA News