Owing to the prosecution’s “unexplained inaction for decades,” the Sandiganbayan dismissed a P5 million ill-gotten wealth case against the late President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. and his wife, Imelda.
The newly-dismissed case involves P5 million that was docketed as Civil Case 0032.
The anti-graft court’s justices noted the state prosecutors’ “unwillingness to pursue the case since 1994,” in the 12-page resolution.
Civil Case 0032 alleged the Marcos couple and a certain Fernando Timbol illegally acquired vehicles and household appliances, which should be returned to the government.
“There is no question that the plaintiff has failed to prosecute the case for an unreasonable length of time. As it is, the present complaint has clogged the docket of the Court for so long, and it can no longer be countenanced,” the Sandiganbayan said.
“As the law and jurisprudence dictate, the plaintiff’s unexplained inaction for decades warrants the dismissal of the complaint against defendant Spouses Marcos,” the Sandiganbayan added.