Singapore SC rejects RP appeal to reclaim $25-M FM assets

MANILA, Philippines – Singapore’s highest court has blocked an appeal by the Philippine government to reclaim $25 million in assets allegedly amassed by former President Ferdinand Marcos, court documents showed yesterday.

The funds, currently held in Singapore, have rival claimants including victims of human rights abuses, four foundations and a corporation, the court documents also showed.

The Court of Appeals upheld a High Court decision that the Philippine government must prove it owns the assets in the face of rival claims.

The funds, which are part of about $658 million that Marcos held in various Swiss bank accounts, are held in a Singapore branch of Germany’s WestLB.

Meantime, commissioners of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) will discuss the reported adverse ruling of the Singapore court.

Nick Suarez, PCGG chief information officer, said that the PCGG will refrain from issuing a statement until the agency’s commissioners will be able to discuss the matter in a special en banc meeting today.

Suarez also said that the PCGG has yet to get a copy of the ruling which they only learned about through the international news media.

“By tomorrow after the special en banc meeting, we’ll be able to come out with a statement on the matter,” Suarez told The STAR.

The Marcos family and its business partners were accused of looting up to $10 billion from state coffers and faced up to 900 cases of corruption and other charges. But so far, only about $1.8 billion has been recovered.

Marcos was ousted by an army-backed popular revolt in 1986, and died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

His wife, Imelda, famous for her huge shoe collection, was acquitted by the Manila Regional Trial Court earlier this month of 32 counts of illegally transferring money abroad because of insufficient evidence. – Rainier Allan Ronda