Antigraft court junks $5.2M forfeiture case vs. Marcos kin

The Sandiganbayan has dismissed a US$5.2-million (about ₱290.8 million) forfeiture case against Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez, uncle of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., along with his wife Juliette and their heirs.

In a resolution dated March 19, the Sixth Division of the court granted the ad cautelam Motion to Dismiss filed by the Romualdez heirs in Civil Case No. SB-25-CVL-0001, originally filed in November 2025, citing the principle of non-interference with a co-equal court division that had already ruled on the same matter.

The court said it could not overturn or interfere with earlier rulings of the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, which had already resolved the issue involving the same funds.

“Regardless of whether the Fourth Division correctly ruled on the matter before it, or whether it had jurisdiction to do so, this Court, being co-equal with the Fourth Division, and without the authority to annul its acts, cannot interfere in the said ruling, respecting the doctrine of non-interference,” the Sandiganbayan said.

The Sixth Division noted that the US$5 million in bank deposits covered by the case had already been the subject of Fourth Division rulings in October and November 2025.

These decisions ordered the release of US$5,193,726.37 in escrowed funds held at the Philippine National Bank (PNB) to the Romualdez family under Civil Case No. SB-11-CVL-0003.

In its earlier ruling, the Fourth Division cited the government’s failure to appeal the June 2018 decision dismissing SB-11-CVL-0003, effectively treating it as an abandonment or waiver of its right to seek forfeiture. This allowed the 2018 dismissal to attain finality.

The funds—amounting to US$5,193,726.37—originated from accounts at Union Bank of Switzerland AG Geneva and were later placed in escrow with PNB.

The court also noted that government prosecutors did not explicitly seek to nullify the Fourth Division’s rulings. Instead, they filed a new forfeiture case in November 2025, after the earlier decisions had already been issued.

Citing jurisprudence, the court said the government’s proper remedy was to elevate the matter to a higher court, not to seek relief from a coequal tribunal.

“Petitioner Republic is effectively asking this Court to interfere in… the Fourth Division’s resolution… [but] the remedy is… a higher court with the authority to nullify” the ruling, it said.

The court granted the motion to dismiss on the ground of non-interference.

However, the Sandiganbayan clarified that the dismissal does not bar the government from pursuing its petition before the Supreme Court of the Philippines, which seeks to stop the release of the funds.

“SB-25-CVL-0001 is hereby dismissed, without prejudice to its re-filing in the event that the Supreme Court nullifies the Fourth Division’s resolutions dated October 3, 2025 and November 14, 2025,” it added.—MCG, GMA Integrated News