Special court eyed to try Marcos wealth cases

Consolidate all the Marcos graft cases pending before the Sandiganbayan and create a special division in the Supreme Court to try them to resolve the cases more quickly.

This was the proposal put forward to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) by the justices of the Sandiganbayan’s third division led by Justice Godofredo Legaspi.

Legaspi and his colleagues Justices Raoul Victorino and Norberto Geraldez stated this position on the graft cases against the Marcoses.

The Sandiganbayan’s third division is trying the cases filed by the PCGG against former first lady Imelda Marcos for allegedly possessing unlawfully held financial interests in the Vibur, Aguamina and Avertina foundations and in Swiss banks while she was still minister of human settlements.

Legaspi, who chairs the Sandiganbayan’s third division, inhibited himself from the Marcos cases raffled to his division because he is the kumpare of the former first lady. The 74-year-old widow of ousted President Ferdinand Marcos was one of the sponsors at the wedding of Legaspi’s son to the daughter of Gen. Bienvenido Felix.

However, Legaspi was recalled by the justices of the anti-graft court because of the overload of cases filed before the Sandiganbayan.

"If (the PCGG) would not be satisfied in this recall of the inhibition, perhaps, if possible and in order to expedite the termination of the Marcos cases, (the PCGG) may request the honorable Supreme Court to create a special division that will try all Marcos cases in the Sandiganbayan," Legaspi said.

The Marcos family’s various ill-gotten wealth cases have been under trial for 18 years.

Legaspi stated for the record that during his 11-year stint as a government prosecutor and the 20 years he worked as a judge and justice, "no one had questioned" his integrity and impartiality because he "decides his cases purely based on the evidence presented and the applicable laws and jurisprudence on the matter."

The prosecution, led by lawyer Wendell Sulit, would like the first division of the Sandiganbayan to handle the cases because its chair, Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, is the justice who is "most familiar" with the cases. De Castro was a member of the graft-court’s third division before her transfer to the first division.

In a four-page motion, prosecutors told acting Presiding Justice Minita Chico-Nazario that "if there is any member who is most familiar with the facts of the cases, as well as previous incidents and corresponding rulings, it is no less than Justice De Castro."

According to them, De Castro had been a "regular member" of the third division, which was previously headed by retired Justices Cipriano del Rosario and Aniceto Badoy. They also said De Castro was "consistently present in the trial" of the graft suits.

In order to prevent further delays in the proceedings, it is logical that the justice most familiar with the cases should be the one to handle them, the prosecutors said, because other justices may have a hard time familiarizing themselves with the facts of the case.

The PCGG claims Mrs. Marcos also held interests in the firms Pretorien, Cesar, Gladiator and ESG under separate accounts in the Banque Paribas. The government disclosed that Vibur has $3.6 million in deposits as of December 1991, while the Aguamina account contained $80.57 million.

According to an investigation report made in December 1998, Avertina, a consolidation of the Xandy and Winthrop foundations, has a P240 million account, under the name Jane Ryan, which is believed to be a pseudonym of Mrs. Marcos.

Republic Act 3019, the country’s anti-graft law, prohibits government officials from holding such interests and requires them to reveal and divest their financial interests, which must be declared in their statements of assets and liabilities.

The PCGG said the former first lady had put up the Maler, Trinidad, Rayby and Palmy foundations and used them as conduits for the diversion of public funds into her private overseas bank accounts.

The other lawsuits against her stemmed from her alleged management of "business ventures using government resources," as well as interfering in the granting of behest loans to companies owned by the Marcos family and their cronies.