Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 1) — Malacañang said President Rodrigo Duterte is not going against court decisions saying the Marcoses amassed ill-gotten wealth, but was only doubting claims that have not yet been proven.
In a media briefing Friday, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said, “Bakit hindi maniniwala kung yun ang desisyon ng Korte Suprema? But with respect doon sa claim na bilyon-bilyon ang ninakaw, eh medyo malabo ‘yun.”
[Translation: Why would he not believe when it was the Supreme Court who made the decision? But with respect to the claim that billions were stolen, that’s quite unbelievable.]
In a speech at an event with the League of Municipalities Tuesday, Duterte raised doubts over the ill-gotten wealth amassed during former President Ferdinand Marcos’ regime.
“The other law what they want to say is that Marcos was a dictator that he stole ano. … Until now you have not proven anything except to sequester and sell – hindi mo nga sigurado kung talagang kay Marcos ba ‘yan [you have not yet proven if that is really from Marcos]?” said Duterte.
Panelo said the President may made the comment “because there is no court case that has…that convicted the President (Marcos) of any ill-gotten wealth.”
He added, “I don’t know of any case filed against the President (Marcos).”
Panelo also doubted the claim that billions were stolen, saying the country did not have that amount when Marcos was in office.
“The question now is, where in the hell did the Marcoses get the money?” he said.
Panelo did, however, say Duterte was not disputing decisions handed down by the Supreme Court.
“The matter of the President being convinced is another thing doon sa Supreme Court has decided that certain amount of money na na-trace which is beyond the salary of the two, agree siya doon [he agrees with that]…As a lawyer, whatever the Supreme Court says, we have no choice but to agree,” he said.
Panelo also tussled with reporters about an amount he gave during the briefing – $400 billion.
When asked how he came up with the figure, Panelo merely said, “Ewan ko, yan lang palagi kong nababasa na billions of billions of dollars ang ninakaw eh…that was the claim. That’s what I read ever since…yung 400 billion, matagal ko nang naririnig yon. Nung 70s ko pa naririnig yun eh.”
[Translation: I don’t know, I keep reading they stole billions and billions of dollars…that was the claim. That’s what I read ever since…the 400 billion, I’ve been hearing that for a long time. I’ve been hearing about it since the 70s.]
Vice President Leni Robredo, meanwhile, said court decisions prove the Marcoses did obtain ill-gotten wealth.
A statement from the Office of the Vice President Friday quoted Robredo saying, “Hindi totoo na walang proof, kasi marami nang kasong nadesisyunan. Alam natin iyon. Marami nang kasong nadesisyunan, hindi lang dito sa Pilipinas, pero pati mga courts sa Switzerland at saka sa U.S., na mayroon nang judgment.”
[Translation: It’s not true there’s no proof, because a lot of cases have been decided upon. We know that. Decisions have been made on cases, not just in the Philippines, but even in courts in Switzerland and the U.S.]
The Marcoses and their cronies have an estimated $10 billion or around P530 billion supposedly stolen from government coffers. The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) – which is tasked to collect the stolen wealth – has only recovered P171.359 billion from 1986 to 2017.
The government has 255 pending civil, criminal and administrative cases before the Supreme Court, Sandiganbayan, Court of Appeals and other lower courts as part of efforts to recover ill-gotten wealth.
In August 2017, Duterte said the Marcos family had offered to turn over part of its questionable wealth. But senatorial candidate and Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos said they leave it up to their lawyers.
