Carmma hits ‘pattern of exoneration’ of Marcoses
The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (Carmma) denounced on Monday the dismissal by the Sandiganbayan of another case filed against the Marcos family over their unexplained wealth.
In a statement, Carmma criticized the antigraft court for dismissing the civil forfeiture case filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) against the late former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., his wife Imelda and government photographer Fernando Timbol.
According to the Feb. 18 resolution by Presiding Judge Geraldine Faith Econg, the case stemmed from a complaint filed on July 30, 1987, against the Marcoses and Timbol “entreating the return” of luxury vehicles worth $121,403 (P5 million).
The complaint alleged that the properties were unlawfully acquired by Timbol through his relationship with the Marcoses.
However, the Sandiganbayan Second Division dismissed the case after the PCGG, through the Office of the Solicitor General, failed to move for a default order when Imelda, the surviving defendant, did not file a response in compliance with a court resolution dated Oct. 28, 1992.
The antigraft court noted that the complaint, docketed as Civil Case No. 0032 and seeking the reconveyance, reversion, accounting, restitution and damages for the “unlawful acquisition” of the vehicles in the name of Timbol, “was neglected, forgotten and left pending and unresolved in the court’s docket.”
Carmma said this was the ninth known case against the Marcoses that had been dismissed by the Sandiganbayan and Supreme Court since President Marcos, the son and namesake of Marcos Sr., came to power on June 30, 2022.
“We are disgusted by this pattern of the Philippine justice system’s exoneration of the Marcoses, despite the blatant display of their use of public funds during the Marcos dictatorship and the numerous decisions of foreign courts regarding the ill-gotten nature of the billions they looted from the Filipino people,” said Carmma.
“It appears that one of the key objectives of Marcos Jr. when he assumed the presidency is to ensure that they keep their plundered wealth, and add more to it with the numerous corruption issues plaguing the current administration,” it added.
Series of dismissals
The group said that aside from those nine cases, there were at least six other cases filed against Marcos cronies that were also dismissed by the antigraft court.
“As we commemorate the 39th year after Edsa People Power I, we remain steadfast in holding the Marcoses, from the dictator-father to Marcos Jr., fully accountable for graft and corruption, human rights violations and oppression of the Filipino people,” Carmma said.
In December 2024, the same Sandiganbayan division issued separate resolutions dismissing eight other ill-gotten wealth cases that were filed against Marcos Sr., Imelda and the late tycoon and Marcos crony Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.
The cases involved the purchase of First United Bank, the predecessor of United Coconut Planters Bank; San Miguel Corp. shares; the creation of companies out of coco levy funds collected during the Marcos years; the formation and operation of the Bugsuk project and the award of P998 million in damages to agricultural investors; the purchases and settlement of the accounts of oil mills; the unlawful disbursement and dissipation of coco levy funds; the acquisition of Pepsi-Cola; and the grant of behest loans and contracts.
Before this, the Second Division dismissed in October 2024 Civil Case No. 006, a P276-million civil case against the estate of Marcos Sr., in which the former first couple was accused of using their associate Roman Cruz in purchasing parcels of land supposedly through ill-gotten wealth.
In February 2024, the antigraft court dismissed charges against three alleged dummies of Marcos Sr. involving the accumulation of P2.4 billion worth of properties believed to be funded by ill-gotten wealth. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
