The year has turned to be fruitful for the Marcos family as it won another forfeiture case, this time amounting to P200 billion, filed against them 32 years ago.
In August, the Marcoses won a P102-million forfeiture case against them and their alleged cronies in the Tantoco family, which owns Rustan’s.
Citing the lack of evidence, the Sandiganbayan junked the P200-billion forfeiture case against the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his surviving family members.
In a decision dated Dec. 16, the anti-graft graft court said the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Ombudsman failed to attain “preponderance of evidence” in the documents they submitted to the court to prove the allegations against the Marcoses.
This means that the evidence that the Marcoses and their co-accused presented to prove that they did not do any wrongdoing was given greater weight by the court than the evidence submitted by the government.
Only 24 of the 188 pieces of documentary evidence submitted by the government prosecutors were original copies. The rest were either certified true copy of the original, certified true copy, or photocopies.
“The bulk of the documentary evidence offered by the plaintiff are mere photocopies, most of which are barely readable. Thus, even if the Court were to defy the best evidence rule, it still could not fully ascertain the contents of these documents and make an intelligent evaluation therefrom,” the Sandiganbayan said.
In the same vein, the anti-graft court dismissed the counter charge of the Marcoses also for failure to attain preponderance of evidence in their claims.
The forfeiture case that has just been dismissed was docketed as Civil Case 002 and involved properties seized from the late Ambassador Roberto Salas Benedicto, a University of the Philippines College of Law classmate of the former President and believed to have been the major financier when he ran for the presidency in 1965.
Among the companies involved in Civil Case 002 were Aklan Bulk Carriers Inc., Fuga Bulk Carriers Inc., Coron Bulk Carriers Inc., and Ecija Bulk Carriers Inc.; appropriated revenues derived from the operations of RPN-9, IBC-13, and BBC-2.
The money involved in the case was allegedly used in the establishment of the California Overseas Bank.
In addition, the court said the government failed to submit evidence to prove that the late President, former First Lady Imelda Marcos extended loan accommodation to their co-accused in the case.