Gov't lawyer's motion on FM wealth risky?

Just what is the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) up to, really?

In moving for a summary judgment on who rightfully owns the US$617 million in escrow accounts now with the Philippine National Bank (PNB), the government faces a greater risk of losing its claim over the money the Marcoses also want for themselves.

"Once the summary judgment is denied, the US$617-million will go back to Switzerland," said Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena in reply to a motion of PCGG lawyers to resolve the issue without a full-blown trial.

But PCGG lawyer Nestor Ballacillo said the commission is confident the government has a strong case over the monies, which were turned over by the Swiss Federal Court to the Philippines on condition that a competent court here decides on who rightfully owns them.

The government, the Marcos family and the 10,000 human rights victims of the Marcos rule each have standing claims over the escrow accounts, some of which have been invested by the PNB in a variety of portfolios abroad.

The government partly owns the PNB, which was substantially privatized under the Ramos administration.

Ballacillo and another junior lawyer stood in place of Solicitor General Ricardo Galvez to argue the case for the government yesterday.

Citing Supreme Court jurisprudence, the lawyer said the government believes there is no need to present independent proof that the fund had been illegally obtained by the Marcoses.

In a 31-page brief the PCGG earlier submitted to the special anti-graft court, the Solicitor General said the Marcoses had failed to present a valid claim on the funds in escrow, acknowledging only its existence but never explaining why they were able to amass such wealth in the first place.

He said the Marcoses have never denied the fund is there.

"What they deny is the charge that they clandestinely stashed the country's wealth in Switzerland and hid them under layers and layers of foundations and corporate entities," said the Solicitor General.

He represented as proof a compromise agreement the Marcoses struck with the PCGG under the Ramos administration, which called for a 25 percent-75 percent sharing of the ill-gotten wealth in favor of the government.

The Supreme Court, however, has already invalidated the compromise deal on a petition filed by former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez.

Galvez, himself, has drawn flak from critics who alleged he does not seem interested to win the case for the government.

The Swiss justices earlier ruled the monies - taken from various previously frozen assets of the Marcoses -- were criminally obtained. The Swiss court liquidated the assets and ordered their return to the Philippines.

Justice Garchitorena granted yesterday a motion by four lawyers representing Imelda Marcos for leave of court to file a demurrer in evidence.

He gave them until May 2 to prepare the demurrer, a legal brief explaining why they believe the PCGG's evidence is not sufficient to prove the government's claim over the money.

A demurrer is a pleading by one party in a legal controversy that there is no need to present evidence because the opposite side has a weak case against them.

"They are saying that there were admissions by the Marcoses that the funds belong to them," said lawyer Armando Marcelo, one of the four Marcos lawyers working on the escrow case. "There were no admissions, the records and the documents show that - and we are going for the dismissal of the case."