Source: Esquiremag.ph
By: Mario Alvaro Limos
Sandiganbayan, the country’s anti-corruption court, has once again junked a case against the Marcoses, this time involving a P200-million forfeiture case against the family. It cited lack of evidence as the reason for the decision, according to a report by Business Mirror.
“Wherefore, premises considered, for failure of the plaintiff to prove its allegations by preponderance of evidence, the subject complaint filed against defendants Estate of Ferdinand Marcos, Imelda R. Marcos…is hearby dismissed,” read the anti-graft court’s decision. But it also acknowledged the plunder and corruption during the Marcos regime.
“On a final note, the Court acknowledges the atrocities committed during martial law under the Marcos regime and the ‘plunder’ committed on the country’s resources. However, absent sufficient evidence that may lead to the conclusion that the subject properties were indeed ill-gotten by the Marcoses,” read the decision.
“On a final note, the Court acknowledges the atrocities committed during martial law under the Marcos regime and the ‘plunder’ committed on the country’s resources. However, absent sufficient evidence that may lead to the conclusion that the subject properties were indeed ill-gotten by the Marcoses,” read the decision.
This is the fourth case against the Marcoses that the Sandiganbayan has junked this year alone.
In August, the anti-corruption court dismissed a P102-billion ill-gotten wealth case filed in 1987 against the Marcoses.
Then, a mere two months later in October, the Sandiganbayan once again dismissed another major case against the Marcoses, involving an alleged P1.052-billion ill-gotten wealth filed in 1989. In the same month, it dismissed another P267-million ill-gotten wealth case against the Ferdinand Marcos and Imelda Marcos, citing lack of evidence.
However, in a huge victory for the prosecution, the anti-graft court also forfeited nearly P3 billion of the Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth, according to a report by CNN. It ordered former cronies of Ferdinand Marcos to return to the government their shares in Eastern Telecommunications Philippines, Inc., which the Presidential Commission on Good Government valued at around P2.95 billion.