EDITORIAL - Marcoses on a roll

At the rate Sandiganbayan justices are dismissing corruption cases against the Marcoses, the Filipino people could end up with debts to the late dictator’s clan.

The latest court victory involves one of the biggest cases so far: the forfeiture of some P200 billion worth of allegedly ill-gotten assets, including bank deposits, residential and agricultural properties, shares of stock and financial investments.

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alex Quiroz penned the ruling with Maria Theresa Mendoza Arcega and Maryann Corpus-Mañalac concurring. They declared that the Presidential Commission on Good Government failed to present sufficient evidence that the assets were illegally amassed.

The same justices had junked another forfeiture case against the Marcoses on Oct. 23 this year involving P267.371 million. This came on the heels of a Sept. 21 ruling dismissing a P1-billion forfeiture case against the Marcoses and their alleged cronies. In August, the Marcoses also won in a case involving P102 billion.

Echoing public dismay, the Senate reportedly intends to conduct an inquiry, to focus on the litigation of the Marcos wealth cases by the PCGG.

The inquiry can explore the various scenarios that have been put forward for the impressive string of judicial victories of the Marcoses. One is that the anti-graft court is correct in its finding of insufficient evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The blame then goes to the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General, for flubbing the cases. Whether the flubbing is deliberate is a matter of speculation. There is also the inevitable speculation that the defense can afford the best justice that money can buy.

The failure to hold accountable those accused of corruption on a mind-boggling scale during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos is one of the reasons for the persistence of corruption in this country.

The Swiss government has turned over to the Philippines hundreds of millions of dollars, officially declared as ill-gotten, that were stashed in Swiss bank accounts. A king’s ransom of jewelry seized from Imelda Marcos is on display at the central bank. She continues to hold on to a massive collection of artwork by the masters, which only the world’s top museums and the likes of Bill Gates can afford. Yet the former first lady not only has stayed out of prison, but has been allowed to sit in Congress.

The Swiss deposits, the jewelry collection and priceless paintings alone should raise questions on how a president of this country, where a fifth of the population remains mired in poverty, could have accumulated such mind-boggling wealth. Yet the Sandiganbayan says the government failed to present evidence to support its accusations. You can’t find evidence when you turn a blind eye to it.