The Sandiganbayan has ruled in favor of the familly of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. as it denied the motion to reconsider its 2019 decision that dismissed the P200-billion forfeiture case filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in 1987.
In a resolution, the anti-graft court’s fourth division ruled that the government’s claims on the pieces of property being forfeited have not been established by evidence presented during the trial.
"Wherefore, the plaintiff's (PCGG) Motion for Reconsideration dated Dec. 19, 2019 insofar as the properties that allegedly have not yet been recovered by the government are concerned, is denied for its failure to prove its claims through a preponderance of evidence," the court’s resolution issued last July 22 stated.
The Sandiganbayan in a decision dated Dec. 16, 2019 dismissed the P200-billion civil forfeiture case.
The PCGG, represented by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) during trial, filed a motion for reconsideration.
The court then issued a resolution dated July 12, 2021 partially granting the motion, stating that a "sweeping dismissal" of the entire complaint on the ground of the Best Evidence Rule (now Original Document Rule) is not warranted. The court then ordered the prosecution to submit a report as to the status of the properties subject of the complaint.
But after compliance, the court said that "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."
The only properties that remain to be under the control of the Marcoses are the Currimao Beach House registered under the name of President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.; the house in Pandacan, Manila registered in the name of the heirs of Vicente Romualdez; the Batac Museum and Batac Guests House which are under the control and supervision of the Marcoses.
"Considering that the evidence already offered by the plaintiff during trial do not sufficiently establish its claim as to the properties mentioned above that are purportedly still within the Marcoses' control, the Court is constrained to deny the plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration dated Dec. 29, 2019 as regards the said properties," the resolution said.
Fourth Division Chairperson Alex L. Quiroz wrote the 12-page resolution with the concurrence of Associate Justices Maria Theresa V. Mendoza-Arcega and Maryann E. Corpus-Mañalac.
Civil Case No. 0002 stemmed from the "misappropriation and theft of public funds, plunder of the nation's wealth, extortion, blackmail, bribery, embezzlement and other acts of corruption," the complaint stated.
The PCGG demanded that the Marcos family return their alleged ill-gotten wealth which included P976 million worth of deposits at the Security Bank and Trust Company and P711 million at the Traders Royal Bank.
It said the Marcoses also have 33 parcels of residential property with an estimated value of P18 million, and about 21,700 hectares of agricultural land in Leyte with an estimated value of P33 million.
Included in the items sought to be reclaimed by the PCGG were shares of stocks in numerous corporations totalling approximately 625 million shares, including 2.4 million shares of Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) Company valued at current market prices approximately at P1.6 billion. These shares are registered in the names of Prime Holdings Inc. (PHI), the late Ramon Cojuangco, and their associates.
As for deposits made with banks in the United States and other countries, the Marcoses have around $292 million, the complaint stated. They also have investments in banks, financial houses, industrial, mining and other corporations valued approximately at $98 million, it added.
The Marcoses have four major buildings in Manhattan, an estate in Long Island, and condominiums in Fifth Avenue - all in New York. They have a penthouse in London, residential houses in Honolulu, Hawaii, Beverly Hills, California, and Cedars, Mississippi, the PCGG said.
It also said that added to the Marcoses’ wealth, among others, are valuable works of art, such as paintings by Degas, El Greco, Gaugin, Goya, Manet, Matisse, Michelangelo, Monet, Picasso, Renoir, and Reubens, among many others.
They have accumulated 177 paintings. These were formerly displayed in Malacanang, the Philippine Townhouse, and the condominiums in Manhattan. Some of them are now missing, the PCGG said.