SC affirms dismissal of falsification raps vs Marcos wealth hunter

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed a resolution of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2002 clearing treasure hunter Reiner Jacobi and his lawyer Crispin Reyes of falsification charges.

The case involved one previously docketed at the Sandiganbayan related to Jacobi’s search for ill-gotten wealth of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos in the 1990s.

In a ruling promulgated last June 27, the high court’s second division dismissed the petition of the Presidential Commission on Good Governant (PCGG) and its former chair Magdangal Elma assailing the findings of the DOJ for lack of probable cause in its complaint against Jacobi and Reyes.

Through Associate Justice Arturo Brion, the high tribunal held that the determination of probable cause is an executive function, which the Court has consistently opted to leave to the DOJ for determination in preliminary investigation.

The SC stood by its rule of leaving the investigating prosecutor with sufficient latitude of discretion in the determination of what constitutes sufficient evidence to establish probable cause.

It also upheld the findings of the DOJ, through then Undersecretary Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez, who later became Ombudsman.

“The accused’s knowledge of the falsity of the document, which he introduced in a judicial proceeding, is one of the elements of this crime.”

In this case, the high court said “not an iota of evidence was presented to show the respondents’ knowledge of the falsity of the De Guzman letter at the time it was annexed to the Sandiganbayan petition,” the court stressed, referring to former PCGG chairman Felix de Guzman.

Records showed that on two occasions, then PCGG commissioner David Castro allegedly agreed to pay Jacobi a fee of 10 percent of any amount actually recovered and legally turned over to the government from the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos and/or his family, associates, subordinates and cronies, based on the information and evidence that the latter would furnish the PCGG.

Chairman Castro sent another letter dated Dec. 19, 1991 to Jacobi confirming “that actual recovery of the Kloten gold account managed by Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) subject of Jacobi’s information and other efforts done will be properly compensated as previously committed.”

On March 8, 1999, the respondents filed with the Sandiganbayan a verified Petition for Mandamus, Prohibition and Certiorari (with Prayer for a Writ of Preliminary Mandatory and Prohibitory Injunction) against the petitioners.

They claimed that due to their persistence, the PCGG made an official request to the Swiss Ministry of Justice to freeze the $13.2-billion UBS account in the name of Irene Marcos Araneta, alias “I. Araneta” (UBS account).

They claimed that the UBS itself admitted the existence of this account, and only denied that the Marcoses owned the account.

Later, Reyes filed an Urgent Manifestation with the Sandiganbayan, withdrawing the alleged falsified letter of chairman De Guzman and former PCGG chair Magtanggol Gunigundo letter as annexes of the Sandiganbayan petition.

But in a March 16, 1999 report of the National Bureau of Investigation, the De Guzman letter was deemed a falsified document as the questioned signatures and entries “were lifted/extracted probably from the original and/or xerox copy” of the Aug. 25, 1998 letter addressed to Ambassador Tomas Syquia.

Charges of falsification and use of falsified document were eventually filed against Reyes and Jacobi but were dismissed by the investigating fiscal.

On April 29, 2002, the PCGG filed a petition with the DOJ Secretary.

The DOJ denied the petition for review on the ground that no prima facie case exists against the respondents.

With the denial of the petitioners’ motion for reconsideration, the PCGG went to the high court.