Imelda asks SC to give back Olot estate

Former first lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos asked the Supreme Court yesterday to allow her to take possession of her family’s estate in Olot, Leyte from the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

Through her lawyer Robert Sison, Marcos appealed to the high tribunal to lift a Dec. 3, 2002 temporary restraining order preventing her from taking over the 45-hectare Romualdez ancestral property.

"Then and only then can this Honorable Court see the monuments of ancestral dominion antedating the birth of the late President Ferdinand Marcos," Marcos’ five-page motion read.

"Then and only then can the Honorable Court see how untrue the petitioner’s claim that the subject property was acquired with the so-called ill-gotten wealth," it said.

Marcos said the PCGG acted in bad faith when it sought the TRO because the Marcoses, not the agency, had prior possession of the Olot property. "Unquestionably, petitioner acted in bad faith," the motion said.

"A TRO should be issued only when the claim of the party asking for it was clear, unmistakable and whose title has been clearly established by law.

"Despite full knowledge of respondent’s prior possession, petitioner nonetheless sought from the Honorable Court the issuance of a TRO that would technically have been moot and academic at the time of its grant," the motion said.