Marcos appoints Sandiganbayan justice to head body overseeing GOCCs

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Sandiganbayan Justice Alex Quiroz to head the body that oversees government-owned and controlled corporations, Malacañang said Saturday.

Quiroz said he will avail of optional retirement as the Constitution bars justices of the Supreme Court and other courts created by law from being designated to agencies that perform quasi-judicial and administrative functions.

He was appointed to the anti-graft court in December 2008 and was originally set to retire on May 27, 2027.

Quiroz penned the decision that junked a P200 billion civil forfeiture case against the Marcos family, which includes the president, due to a lack of evidence presented by the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

The Sandiganbayan, in its ruling, acknowledged the “atrocities committed during Martial Law under the Marcos regime and the ‘plunder’ committed on the country’s resources,” but stressed that they cannot order forfeiture with lack of sufficient evidence.

“[A]bsent 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,” the decision read. — Xave Gregorio with a report from Kristine Joy Patag