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A government agency tasked to recover the alleged ill-gotten wealth of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos said its main objective now is to imprison former First Lady Imelda Marcos, for having amassed ill-gotten wealth while her husband was in power from 1965 until his ouster in 1986.
"We would do our best to put Mrs Marcos in jail. The recent Supreme Court ruling has proven that the Marcoses stole money which is only being returned now," said Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Ruben Carranza.
"She can go to jail," Carranza explained, adding the former first lady is facing nine counts of graft before the Sandiganbayan anti graft-court in connection with the recovered Swiss accounts of the Marcoses. The cases are in the trial stage. The Supreme Court recently ruled that the $650 million Swiss accounts belong to the government. The accounts were under the name of four foundations, which were established by the former first lady in favour of her three children.
In 1998, the Swiss government turned over the Marcos deposits from several Swiss to the government. They were deposited at the escrow account of the Philippine National Bank (PNB).
"They (Swiss deposits) were found as ill-gotten wealth," said Carranza, adding the Apex Court‚s ruling would strengthen the cases filed by the Sandiganbayan against Imelda.
"We're saying that crimes and corruption were also committed by Mrs Marcos," said Carranza.
The PCGG is not deterred by her old age. She recently turned 74.
Aside from nine graft cases, she is also facing 33 counts of dollar-salting before the Manila Regional Trial Court.
At the same time, PCGG Chair Haydee Yorac who came close to death a few months ago after a stroke and a cancer operation was elated over the Supreme Court ruling on the Swiss deposits of the Marcoses.
"We won. Yehey!" she said when she received the news while undergoing chemotherapy at home.
When she assumed office in July 2001, Yorac told her commissioners that they must win two crucial cases in court.
One is the Marcos Swiss deposits. The other is the coco levy fund which was imposed by the government on coconut farmers in the 70s. The fund was used by Eduardo Cojuangco to purchase 72 per cent of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB).
"The coco levy assets are the most immorally acquired (ill-gotten wealth) because they were taken from poorest of the poor. At the same time, the ruling on the Swiss really showed that the Marcoses stole from the Filipino people," said PCGG Commissioner Vyva Aguirre said.
PCGG officials also sat down with Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo yesterday to review all the graft cases filed against the Marcoses and their cronies, which were dismissed previously by the Sandiganbayan anti graft court.
Marcelo said they would revive as many criminal cases as they can.
Several Marcos loyalists who dissociated themselves from the former first lady said the latter should be questioned for having reached a huge compromise settlement over the ownership of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.
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