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Manila: The son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos has claimed ownership of prime real estate property in suburban Pasig, 21 years after a former business associate turned it over to the Philippine government to escape prosecution following the strongman's ouster in 1986.
The 18.4-hectare prime property in Pasig City, now a commercial area along Meralco and Ortigas Avenues and Julia Vargas Street was purchased by Marcos from Ortigas and Co Limited Partnership (OCLP) for 6.4 million pesos (Dh511,150) at 40 pesos per square metre in 1968, said Congressman-elect Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
Marcos said his father sealed the deal with Jose Yao Campos, who he claimed was his godfather.
In a complaint filed before the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court, Marcos pleaded to be allowed to stake his family's claim to the property
After his father had paid for the said property, Campos placed it under the name of Maharlika Estates Corp, which was later renamed Anchor Estate Corp (AEC), Marcos said. In 1971, AEC transferred the rights to the property in favour of Mid-Pasig Land Development Corp, he added.
Maharlika, AEC and Mid-Pasig were "organised by Campos on behalf of my father," he argued.
Two other claimants, Yao of OCLP and Ricardo Silverio (a Marcos crony) of AEC, recently filed claims for the said properties.
Legal challenge
"My father did not have a chance to challenge the deal of Campos and the PCGG," Marcos said.
In a compromise deal that gave him immunity from prosecution in 1987, Campos turned over several companies and properties that he claimed he held "in trust" for Marcos, to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), an agency created in 1987 to recover the alleged hidden wealth of the Marcoses.
Recently, the OCLP has claimed that the Ortigas family was forced to sell the property to the ousted president. The OCLP has been trying to forge a deal with the PCGG that will give the government 65 per cent and the firm 35 per cent of recovered Marcos assets. Former business associates are now trying to forge an out of court settlement with the government, remarked an observer.
Members of the surviving Marcos family have been belatedly asserting ownership of some companies and real estate properties that were turned over by former business associates of the dictator.
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