Martin1 HOUSE Speaker Martin Romualdez (left) swears in Secretary General Reginald S. Velasco, who was voted by a majority of House members of the 19th Congress, at the plenary hall.With them are Velasco’s wife Magdalena and son Martin Valentin. Photo by VER NOVENO

Affirmed

July 27, 2022 Jester P. Manalastas 392 views

DUE to lack of evidence, the Sandiganbayan has upheld the dismissal of a civil case involving P200 billion worth of assets and properties of the Marcos family.

In a 12-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Alex L. Quiroz, the Fourth Division of the anti-graft court denied the government’s appeal on the dismissal of a 35-year-old forfeiture case against four properties of the family of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

According to the justices, the plaintiff which is the Republic of the Philippines, failed to present sufficient evidence to show that these properties and assets were part of the alleged ill-gotten wealth

“Considering that the evidence already offered by the plaintiff during trial do not sufficiently establish its claims as to the properties mentioned above that are purportedly still within the Marcoses’ control, the Court is constrained to deny the plaintiffs Motion for Reconsideration dated 29 December 2019 as regards the said properties,” the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division declared in denying the motion for reconsideration filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) represented by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

Civil Case No. 0002 involved assets recovered through compromise agreements or other related cases such as Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corporation shares, properties in Cabuyao, Laguna; Paoay, Ilocos Norte; the Sto. Nino Shrine and People’s Center in Tacloban City; the Swiss deposits; Arelma assets and properties, as well as jewelry and paintings.

Associate Justices Maria Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega and Maryann E. Corpus-Mañalac concurred.

Meanwhile, the anti-graft court noted that despite the dismissal of Civil Case No. 0002, the government had already won or taken over Possession of most of the properties it listed subject of the case filed in July 1987.

“Many of the properties subject of the Complaint in this case, along with its subsequent amendments, have already been recovered by the government or transferred to third persons not involved herein,” it pointed out.

Based on the list submitted by the PCGG, there were only four properties still under the control of the Marcos family that were included in the case.

These are the house and lot in Pandacan, Manila registered in the name of Heirs of Vicente Romualdez, the Currimao Back House covered by a title registered in the name of the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos, the Batac Museum, and the Batac Guest House. The latter three are all located in the President’s home province in Ilocos Norte.

Likewise, in its ruling, the Sandiganbayan clarified that it set aside technicalities to allow the government an opportunity to present additional evidence to strengthen its claim over the four properties but in a Compliance dated April 25, 2022, Republic notified the court that it had nothing more to add as “all material and relevant documents and pieces of evidence for the instant case have already been presented during trial.”

“The Court afforded the plaintiff the opportunity to submit further evidence in support of the subject report. Unfortunately, no such evidence was forthcoming,” the Sandiganbayan further explained.

Among the recovered assets are the 111,415 shares held by the Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Company (PLDT) in Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp (PITC) sold in 2006 to Metro Pacific Assets Holdings, Inc. for P25.2 billion. The proceeds of the sale went to a trust fund for the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in the National Treasury.

Also recovered were 526 art pieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Manila Foundation which are now under safekeeping by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas; the Marcos family’s peso and dollar deposits in Security Bank and Trust Company containing P934.62 million and $8.002 million which were turned over to the CARP account at the National Treasury; and a property in Talaga, Mariveles, Bataan which was auctioned off in 2000 and sold for P44 million with the proceeds likewise going into CARP.

In the list of surrendered properties subject of the case were assets surrendered to the government by former Ambassador Roberto Benedicto in 1993 including the International Broadcasting Corp (IBC) including rights over its franchise, land, relay stations, and provincial and radio stations all worth P3.074 billion and three parcels of land in Bataan in the name of Piedras Petroleum Corp. with a combined value of P70.016 million.

Benedicto also agreed to “assign to the government all his rights, interest and/or participation, if any, in Radio Philippines Network (RPN) which operated TV-9, its seven provincial TV stations and seven provincial radio stations, as well as the Banahaw Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).