Who’s the looter?

On the eve of the birth anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the nation learned that his widow Imelda had been acquitted by the Supreme Court on the seven counts of graft for which she was convicted by a lower court in 2018.

Despite the conviction, Imeldific remained free on bail approved by the Sandiganbayan, no doubt still singing “New York, New York,” still showing off her fantabulous art collection, and then celebrating her birthdays again at Malacañang following her family’s stunning political comeback.

Clearing the clan of all forfeiture cases for ill-gotten wealth, and now the acquittal of matriarch Imelda are the most impressive achievements of Bongbong Marcos since winning power in 2022.

For this birthday gift to the late dictator, sinecures in government corporations may await the Supreme Court justices who are set to retire while Ferdinand Junior is still in power.

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court had ordered the return to the Philippines of $570 million in bank deposits under aliases used by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos after our Supreme Court ruled with finality in 2003 that the deposits were ill-gotten. The original amount was $356 million. With interest, those deposits that were initially held in escrow had ballooned to $683 million before being released to the Philippines.

Certain Swiss officials had told me that they were proud of the Marcos case because it was the first time that they had restituted dirty money. As time went by, however, the Swiss officials were astonished that no one ever went to prison for accumulating the ill-gotten wealth. There’s a huge pile of judicially proclaimed loot, but what happened to the looters?

One of them is buried in the heroes’ cemetery, while his better half just got acquitted of seven counts of graft related to the case. Their only son, a co-executor of their vast estate, is the President of the republic.

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The Supreme Court, in overturning Imeldific’s conviction, provided legal acrobatics that have become standard for those who master the law to find the best ways of going around it.

Imelda’s acquittal on the charges related to Swiss bank accounts reinforces fears that the current molly-coddling of her nephew Martin Romualdez is the opening act of a moro-moro on his way to acquittal.

It also reinforces the cynical belief in this country that if you’re going to steal, you better steal big, because then you’re going to win big and laugh, literally, all the way to the Swiss banks. The bigger the loot, the greater the chance of getting away with everything, from plunder to murder.

Plunderers and jueteng lords have laundered their dirty money into politics, winning elections and building dynasties.

Meanwhile, if you even play cara y cruz in the street, you get tossed in jail ASAP, with your family not even informed of your incarceration. Your poor son would wade in the flood in search of you, contract leptospirosis in the filthy water and die soon after, and there would be no justice – whether for the son or the father.

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There are suspicions that the timing of recent events isn’t coincidental, but part of an attempt by the administration at anger management – public anger, that is.

The suspicion is that the Romualdez drama was supposed to start last Friday, so that the issuance of the warrant for his arrest would coincide with that for Vice President Sara Duterte, blunting criticisms of selective prosecution. Romualdez’s arrest could also reduce outrage over the belated release of the SC’s reversal of Imeldific’s lone conviction for graft.

But with Romualdez fleeing to one of the most expensive hospitals in the country – and not even to the emergency room if his problem was truly life-threatening – the attempt at public anger management has flopped.

Showing the more modest accommodations awaiting him at the Philippine National Police General Hospital might have eased his anxiety attack, but it aggravated public anxiety over VIP treatment of those accused of stealing billions of our hard-earned taxes.

Yesterday, after being briefed by Cardinal Santos doctors, the Sandiganbayan ordered the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to take custody of Romualdez from the police. But the court will still have to rule on Romualdez’s petition for hospital arrest before he can be sent to a BJMP-run regular jail.

The admitting doctor at Cardinal Santos told the Sandigan that Romualdez was brought directly to the private room upon arrival at the hospital instead of going through the normal process of admission.

If that was a life-threatening cardiovascular event, shouldn’t Romualdez have been rushed instead to the emergency room, where he would go through triage and then a battery of tests? We’ll know more from his cardiologist who will face the Sandigan today.

The BJMP said it was preparing Romualdez’s new accommodations at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas, where he will be in the distinguished company of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta.

When it comes to politicians, many people have lost trust in presumptions in this country – whether in the presumption of regularity in handling public funds, or in the presumption of innocence.

We can’t even presume fairness in the judicial system. Members of the judiciary should be subjected to lifestyle checks, but they are outside the jurisdiction of the Office of the Ombudsman.

The Supreme Court has the disciplinary power over judges and justices. What does the SC do? It overturns the Sandiganbayan’s conviction of Imelda Marcos.

Martin Romualdez might yet obtain such final acquittal.

The viral joke the other day, as Romualdez used a hospital as refuge from jail staycation, is that the biggest reason for hospitalization of politicians these days is a warrant of arrest.

If the joke weren’t on us, it would be hilarious.