Rep. Imelda Marcos sits with a book in her hands during the launch of their product, “Imeldifique” cooking wines, at a restaurant in Quezon City on Tuesday. The Marcoses are trying to solidify their return to power, with Sen. Bongbong Marcos running for vice president in the May 2016 elections.(MNS photo)
MANILA, Jan 5 (Mabuhay) — Malacañang on Tuesday welcomed the decision of a Sandiganbayan division ordering the Marcoses and the family of alleged Marcos crony Alfonso Lim to return all properties claimed by the government.
The decision on the 28-year civil case – filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in 1987 – was a “significant win for the Filipino people,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement.
“The judgment rendered by the Sandiganbayan is a significant win for the Filipino people in the long-term effort to recover assets that had been illegally acquired during the dictatorship by known cronies of then President Ferdinand Marcos,” he said.
In a 35-page decision, the Sandiganbayan Second Division ordered the Marcos and Lim families to return various properties which were found to be illegally obtained through timber concessions and management contracts which “unjustly enriched” both families.
The PCGG will implement the decision once it attains finality, Coloma noted.
The Lims are owners of the logging companies Taggat Industries Inc. and Pamplona Redwood Veneer Co. Inc.
According to the Sandiganbayan, the remaining assets registered to Alfonso Lim which may be considered for possible compromise settlements are parcels of land with a total estimated value of P378 million in 2006. These include assets in Tagaytay City valued at P206.6 million, in Batangas worth P96.8 million, and in Angono Rizal estimated at P74.5 million. Lim died in 2002.
Excluding the untitled land in Tagaytay City, the real estate properties are mortgaged for P25.316 million in favor of the Philippine National Bank and for and P54.000 million to the National Investment and Development Corp.
The property in Batangas is the subject of a civil case pending before the Regional Trial Court Branch 18 in Tagaytay City, while the six parcels of land in Angono, Rizal are now fully occupied by squatters, the Sandiganbayan said in its ruling.(MNS)