Bongbong Marcos rests case on forfeiture of family’s ‘ill-gotten wealth’

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos, through his lawyer Manuel Plaza III, has rested his case and opted to just adopt the evidence presented by his co-defendants in a civil forfeiture case involving alleged ill-gotten wealth of his family.

During the pretrial proceedings at the Sandiganbayan Second Division yesterday, Plaza was asked by Division chairman Oscar Herrera what will be his next move for his client, following his submission of a special power of attorney to represent Marcos in the case.

“Are you resting your case already?” Herrera asked, to which Plaza replied in the affirmative.

Herrera made the query after Plaza last week manifested that Marcos would just adopt the witnesses and some documentary evidence presented by his co-defendants – the heirs of the Enriquez and Panlilio families.

Plaza had previously asked the court to give him more time to prepare for the presentation of his client’s defense originally scheduled on July 7.

Plaza did not explain why Marcos would no longer present any witnesses or evidence.

Meanwhile, the Second Division has given Marcos’ mother, former first lady Imelda Marcos, and his sisters Sen. Imee Marcos and Irene Marcos-Araneta and another defendant in the case, a certain Don Ferry, a chance to present their evidence on Sept. 1 and 22 and Oct. 6.

Lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General, representing the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), manifested that should the four defendants or their legal counsels fail to appear on the scheduled hearing dates, they would move that the court declare them to have waived their right to present their evidence.

Aside from the Marcoses and Ferry, the other defendants in the case include Modesto Enriquez, Trinidad Enriquez, Rebecco Panlilio, Erlinda Enriquez-Panlilio, Leandro Enriquez, Roman Cruz Jr. and Gregorio Castillo.

The Enriquez and Panlilio families had earlier presented three witnesses – Janina Bacsal, lawyer Fatima Ann Isla and Ma. Concepcion Ezpeleta-Torralba.

Details of their testimonies were not immediately available as they took the witness stand in October 2020 to May 2021 at the height of the COVID pandemic.