Ill-gotten wealth of Marcoses

Relevant to the commemoration of Edsa@31 is the most recent jurisprudence on the ill-gotten wealth of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos titled Estate of Marcos vs Republic (Jan. 18, 2017) and written by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno.

Stripped of legalese, the decision:
1) listed the couple’s alleged ill-gotten wealth,
2) recalled that the “known lawful income” of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos from 1965 to 1986 had been unanimously fixed at $304,372.43 in Republic vs Sandiganbayan (July 15, 2003),
3) reiterated that any cash, property or assets of the Marcoses in excess of the said sum would be deemed “ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State,” and
4) affirmed a unanimous Sandiganbayan decision (Jan. 13, 2014, penned by Justice Efren N. de la Cruz and concurred in by Justices Teresita V. Diaz-Baldos and Alex L. Quiroz) in which “the pieces of jewelry, known as the Malacañang Collection, were labelled as ill-gotten and were consequently forfeited in favor of the Republic.”
In the 2003 case referred to in Item 2, bank deposits amounting to $658,175,373.60 were deemed ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State. Also, in the 2012 case of Marcos Jr. vs Republic (April 25, 2012), the assets, properties and funds of Arelma S.A. (“an entity created by the late Ferdinand E. Marcos”) in the sum “of USD 3,369,975 as of 1983, plus all interests and all other income that accrued thereon” were also deemed ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State.

$5-B wealth. Per Item 1, the 2017 decision incorporated in its footnotes the petition, dated Dec. 17, 1991 (yes, more than 25 years ago), in civil case 0141 that the Presidential Commission on Good Government filed in the Sandiganbayan listing the
alleged ill-gotten wealth, “approximated at US$5-B and which include”:
1) The holding companies, agro-industrial ventures, land holdings, buildings, condominium units, mansions, cash, and other properties, here and abroad, described in the affidavits of Rolando Gapud, Bonifacio Gillego, Jose Y. Campos, and
Antonio Floirendo.
2) “Painting and silverwares (sic) already sold at public auction in the US worth $17-M … aside from the jewelries (sic), paintings and other valuable decorative arts found in Malacañang and in the US estimated to be about $23.9-M…”
3) “Philippine peso bills amounting to P27,744,535.00, foreign currencies and jewelries (sic) amounting to $4-M and Certificates of Time Deposits worth P46.4-M seized by the U.S. customs authorities upon arrival of the Marcoses in Honolulu, Hawaii…”
4) “US$30-M in the custody of the
Central Bank…”
5) “Shares of stocks in Piedras Petroleum Co. Inc. and in Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corporation worth P500-M…”
6) “Shares of stock in Balabac Oil Company worth about P42-M as described in the affidavit of Mr. Raymundo S. Feliciano … plus the 60% of the sequestered assets of CDCP in the amount of P172,378,030…”
7) “The… P10M as described by Jesus Tanchangco … and the 45% beneficial ownership of FM in Landoil as stated by Jose de Venecia, Jr. …”
8) “The … Philippine pesos and US dollars deposited in the Security Bank & Trust Co. (SBTC) totaling P974,885,480.46 and US$6,522,361.29”
9) “… shareholding (sic) of the Marcoses in SBTC which were sold by the PCGG at Pl61,200,000.00 and which has (sic) increased to P238.7-M including interests, but excluding P15-M already received by PCGG,”
10) “Other properties already recovered such as the 21 vehicles registered in the names of Fernando and Susan Timbol … worth about P5.1-M…”
11) “Philippine peso deposits in Traders Royal Bank totaling over P1-B…”
12) “Other properties in the US already recovered in the total amount of US$25.7-M…”
13) “Bank deposits in Luxembourg, Hongkong, the Cayman Islands, US and other countries which have not yet been fully documented and the approximate amounts therein cannot yet be determined…”
14) “Secret deposits in Swiss banks, which” are “the primary and principal object of this petition for forfeiture pursuant to judgments of the Swiss Federal Tribunal…”
The list “excludes the assets, monies and all the other properties” involved in civil cases 0002-0035 filed earlier in the Sandiganbayan.

Comments to chiefjusticepanganiban@ hotmail.com