Sequestered Romualdez property still unreturned

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — The sequestered 42-hectare Romualdez ancestral beachfront property in Brgy. Olot, Tolosa, Leyte has not been returned yet to former first lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) pending the motion for reconsideration filed last month on the Supreme Court ruling.

PCGG regional representative Renor Dauag said the Olot property---consisting of an 18-hole golf course, two hills with a grotto and a Spanish-era watchtower, a Carribean-style mansion and a cottage of Senator Bongbong Marcos---is still with the PCGG until now.

"We are still waiting orders from our head office in Manila, regarding the recent SC ruling," Dauag said, adding that the PCGG has continued rehabilitating and repairing the cottage and the almost dilapidated mansion where Imelda and the late President Ferdinand Marcos stayed periodically during the martial law years.

Earlier, Mrs. Marcos planned to bring in renovators to the sprawling property after the SC handed down its ruling sometime on December 2010 upholding her claim that the sequestered property belonged to her family.

The SC dismissed a petition filed by the PCGG allowing it to confiscate the sprawling property. The High Court did not rule on whether the property was acquired by the Romualdezes illegally or not, but it decided that wrong government officials originally signed the documents for its confiscation.

Dauag said the PCGG regional office provided a caretaker of the Olot property with two security guards even if its no longer generating an income, unlike before when it was rented for only P1,000 a month.

The government-sequestered Romualdez properties in Leyte are worth a total of P10 billion, prominent among these are the Olot property in Tolosa, and the Sto. Niño Shrine, the Heritage Building and the adjacent People's Library Center of Leyte, all located along Real Street in this city.

Each has an assessed value of at least P100 million and all are registered in the name of the 81-year-old Mrs. Marcos.

Last year's operational fund of the PCGG came from the rentals of dry goods retailers at the ground floor of the People's Center in Tacloban City, which second floor has 100,000 volumes of books. These rentals and the admission fees from tourists visiting the Sto. Niño Shrine generated a total of P5.6 million last year.

Meanwhile, the Aquino administration is planning to abolish the PCGG within two years and, should this materializes, 23 volunteer workers of the PCGG-8, will be out of jobs. Dauag said they have been preparing for this. – THE FREEMAN