MANILA, Philippines — The Fourth Division of the Sandiganbayan said in a recent decision that the Marcos family will only get to keep four properties, in a partial reversal of a 2019 ruling that said the first family did not need to return P200 billion in ill-gotten wealth.
In a 12-page ruling on July 22 but only made available Tuesday, it was revealed that the government partially won its appeal on the 2019 decision as the court ruled that a “sweeping dismissal … on the ground of the Best Evidence Rule … is not warranted, considering that many of the subject properties have long been recovered by the government.”
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A status report provided by the Presidential Commission on Good Government attached in the recent ruling showed that a substantial amount of the Marcos loot that is the subject of the case has already been seized and taken control of by the government.
This includes the stocks of 10 companies, P934 million and $8 million worth of deposits in a bank account, 13 real estate properties, 10 land titles and 526 art pieces.
Other companies no longer exist, while others are now in possession of private persons or local governments.
What remains with the Marcoses, as per the PCGG report, is the Currimao Beach House which is registered under the name of former President Ferdinand Marcos, a house in Pandacan, Manila, the Batac Museum and the Batac Guest House.
The court said that it allowed the PCGG to submit more evidence in support of its report, but this did not come as it said that “all material and relevant documents and pieces of evidence for the instant case have already been presented during trial.”
“Considering that the evidence already offered by the plaintiff during trial do not sufficiently establish its claims 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 … as regards the said properties,” the Sandiganbayan said.
The decision was penned by Associate Justice Alex Quiroz and concurred to by Associate Justices Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega and Maryann Corpus-Mañalac.
The resolution came out just a day before Quiroz was appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as chairperson of the Governance Commission for Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations.
Quiroz said he is going to avail of optional retirement for him to occupy the position appointed to him. — Xave Gregorio