Sandigan affirms dismissal of forfeiture case vs late Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda

MANILA, Philippines — The Sandiganbayan has upheld its earlier decision dismissing another forfeiture case filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his widow Imelda and their cronies.

The PCGG on July 28, 1987 sought to recover, in favor of the government, properties and financial assets suspected to have been illegally acquired by the Marcoses through dummies and business associates during the martial law era.

In a five-page resolution promulgated on Aug. 11, the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division said the PCGG failed to raise new meritorious arguments in its motion for reconsideration that would warrant a reversal of the Sandiganbayan’s Feb. 21 decision.

“An examination of the records of the case reveals that the arguments raised by the plaintiff in the present motion are the very same issues already discussed and passed upon by the Court in the assailed Decision,” the Fifth Division’s resolution read.

“For failure of the plaintiff to convince the Court of the cogency of their position and finding no new matters or persuasive grounds to merit a reconsideration of its earlier Decision, the Court finds no convincing reason to depart from it,” it added.

Defendants in civil case No. 0024 include businessmen Peter Sabido, Luis Yulo, Roberto Benedicto and Nicolas Dehesa as well as former Development Bank of the Philippines executives Jose Tengco Jr., Rafael Sison, Cesar Zalamea and Don Ferry.

The Philippine Integrated Meat Corp., Pimeco Marketing Corp., Lianga Bay Logging Co. Inc. and Yulo King Ranch are also parties to the case.

The PCGG alleged that the Marcoses used Sabido, Yulo and other defendants as dummies for the acquisition of huge loans from 1973 to 1982.

During the martial law years, Pimeco allegedly was given “unwarranted preferential right” to import and monopolize the supply of meat products in the greater Manila area.

Aside from the recovery of assets and properties, PCGG also sought P50 billion in damages and P1 billion in legal fees.

In its Feb. 21 decision, the Fifth Division said the PCGG, represented in court by the Office of the Solicitor General, failed to present any evidence that the corporations involved in the case were being controlled by the Marcos family.

The Sandiganbayan had dismissed several wealth forfeiture cases against the Marcos family and their cronies, citing insufficiency of evidence. Among the cases dismissed were civil case Nos. 0002, 0007, 0008 and 0034 which sought to recover suspected ill-gotten wealth amounting to P200 billion, P267.371 million, P1.052 billion and P102 billion, respectively.