Sandigan to proceed with trial of Marcos wealth case

MANILA, Philippines — The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan will proceed with the trial of a wealth forfeiture case involving shares of stocks in a telecommunications company, supposedly held in trust for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and his wife, former first lady Imelda Marcos, by their alleged cronies or business associates.

In a nine-page resolution promulgated last May 23, the court’s Fourth Division has denied the motion for suspension of proceedings filed by the defendants or their representatives.

The Fourth Division maintained that it cannot suspend the trial of the case without a temporary restraining order (TRO) or writ of preliminary injunction from the Supreme Court (SC), as its magistrates may be held administratively liable under Section 7 Rule 65 of the Rules of Court.

Denied was the joint motion for suspension of defendants Rosario Arellano, Victoria Legarda, Angela Lobregat, Benito Nieto, Carlos Nieto, Manuel Nieto III, Ma. Rita delos Reyes, Carmen Tuazon, Victor Africa, Ramon Nieto Jr., the legal representative of the deceased defendant Ramon Nieto, and Benigno Manual Valdez, the representative of Rafael Valdez.

The forfeiture case, docketed as Civil Case No. 0178, was filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) at the Sandiganbayan in October 1997. It seeks to recover in favor of the government 3,305 shares of stock in the Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (ETPI).

The PCGG, represented in court by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), said the shares were held in trust for the Marcos couple but registered in the names of the defendants, who the PCGG identified as the cronies or business associates of the Marcoses.

In their motion, the defendants said the proceedings must be suspended as a similar case, docketed as Civil Case No. 0009, handled by the court’s Third Division, is still under appeal before the SC.

The anti-graft court’s Third Division, in a decision promulgated on Dec. 4, 2019, has awarded in favor of the government P2.756 billion worth of stocks in ETPI under the names of Jose Africa and Manuel Nieto Jr., small individual ETPI shareholders, and the Aerocom Investors and Managers Inc., which transferred its ETPI shares to ISM Communication Corp. on July 11, 2005.

The Fourth Division also pointed out that Civil Case No. 0178 was filed in 1997 precisely to cover some other registered owners of the ETPI shares not impleaded in Civil Case No. 0009 filed in 1987.

“There is no question that this Court acquired jurisdiction over the persons of the movants/defendants and over the subject matter of the case. The instant case was filed pursuant to the instruction of the Supreme Court to implead the registered owners of those shares in a formal complaint,” the Fourth Division said.

The ruling was penned by Associate Justice Lorifel Pahimna with the concurrence of Associate Justices Alex Quiroz and Georgina Hidalgo.

Civil Case No. 0178 and Civil Case No. 0009 were among the many civil forfeiture suits filed by the PCGG at Sandiganbayan against the Marcos family and their alleged cronies in an effort to recover billions of pesos believed to have been illegally amassed during the martial law regime.

More than a dozen of the cases remain pending while more than 20 were dismissed due to “insufficiency of evidence.”