Sandiganbayan junks P200 billion ill-gotten wealth case vs Marcoses
The Sandiganbayan Fourth Division junked a P200 billion ill-gotten wealth against the family of late former President Ferdinand Marcos.
In a decision released on Monday, the anti-graft court dismissed the civil suit against Marcos and his wife Imelda, their children Irene and Ferdinand and an associate named Constante Rubio.
According to the 42-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Alex Quiroz, the civil case Number 0002 was dismissed “for failure of the plaintiff to prove its allegations by preponderance of evidence.”
Aside from the civil case 002, the PCGG has lost three other cases against the Marcoses this year.
The court also added that most of the evidence filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) against the Marcoses were photocopies and "barely readable."
"The court acknowledges the atrocities committed during Martial Law under the Marcos regime and the 'plunder' committed on the country's resources," the decision read.
"However, absent sufficient evidence that may lead to the conclusion that the subject properties were indeed ill-gotten by the Marcoses, the court cannot simply order the return of the same to the national treasury," it added.
The case was filed PCGG in 1987. PCGG accused the Marcos family and Rubio of illegally amassing an estimated amount of P200 billion.
Among the accused ill-gotten assets of the Marcoses stated in the civil suit were a P976 million in bank deposits at the Security Bank and Trust Company and a P711 million in bank deposits at the Traders Royal Bank.
PCGG also accused the Marcoses and Rubio of having a residential property in Leyte worth P18 million, P33 million worth of agricultural land in Leyte, P1.6 billion PLDT shares, foreign bank deposits amounting to $ 292 million and $ 98 million in investments in foreign banks, financial houses and industrial mining.
Also included in the case were 177 paintings, $8.9 million worth of several crates of jewelry, P236 million worth of jewelry intercepted at the Honolulu airport, P14 million worth of "vanity items" discovered inside boxes and suitcases at Malacanang after Marcoses were sent to Hawaii, and investments in real properties in United States and United Kingdom.
Associate Justice Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega and Associate Justice Maryann Corpus-Manalac concurred the ruling.
Last August, Sandiganbayan Second Division dismissed a P102 billion case against the Marcoses and associate Roberto Benedicto.
Another case was junked in October - a P1 billion case against the Marcos family and Bienven ido Tantoco followed by a P267.37 million case involving the Marcoses and Ignacio and Fe Roa Gimenez. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS
