The government lost another case of forfeiture against the Marcoses and their cronies after the Sandiganbayan dismissed the P267-million case against the couple Fe and Ignacio Gimenez.
READ: Sandiganbayan drops P102-billion forfeiture raps vs. Marcos, allies
The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division granted the demurrer to evidence filed by the Gimenezes. Its decision was promulgated on Oct. 14 but was made available to reporters only on Friday.
The court said the Presidential Commission on Good Government, through the Ombudsman were given mere photocopies of documents purporting to prove that the subject matter of the case was really part of the Marcoses’ alleged ill-gotten wealth that were entrusted to the Gimenezes.
“Considering that the Republic is essentially seeking to prove the contents of the photocopied exhibits that it submitted, this Court finds the violation of the best evidence rule in the case at bar to be fatal to the Republic’s cause,” the court said.
Civil Case 0007 is one of the cases the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General filed in 1987.
In 2006, the Sandiganbayan granted the motions to dismiss the case filed by the Gimenez couple. However, the Supreme Court remanded the case back to the anti-graft court in 2016.
The court said while the government had argued that the documentary evidence it submitted should not be considered mere photocopies but rather “certified public records.”
“In several decisions, the high court has already held that the fact that these documents were collected by the PCGG in the course of its investigation does not make them per se public records,” the court said.
Among the photocopies noted by the Sandiganbayan in its decision were tax documents, summary of stock transactions, Central Bank of the Philippines documents, Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, local and foreign bank statements.
The court also stated in its ruling the inability of the government to authenticate private documents and that some of the affidavits were hearsay evidence.
“It must also be stated that some of the photocopied exhibits that were submitted by the Republic to this Court are so poor in quality that the letters and numbers stated therein are already unreadable, thereby making it impossible for the Court to discern therefrom the points being sought to be established by the Republic,” the court said.
The decision was written by Division Chairman Alex Quiroz with the concurrence of Associate Justices Reynaldo Cruz and Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega.
Last month, the same division dismissed Civil Case 0008 involving the supposed ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses through the Tantoco family who owns Rustans and other high retail outlets.
