Opposition solons on guilty verdict vs Imelda: ‘Remain on the lookout’

Despite Sandiganbayan’s guilty verdict against former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte 2nd District Rep. Imelda Marcos, opposition lawmakers on Friday urged the public to remain “on the lookout” and continue demanding for accountability against the Marcos family.

READ: Imelda Marcos guilty of graft, ordered arrested

“Dapat mapanagot pa rin sa batas iba pang myembro ng Marcos family na nagsamantala sa posisyon at lumustay ng kaban yaman,” ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said in a statement.

Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao said while the anti-graft court found Marcos guilty of seven counts of graft, “the public should continue on the lookout.”

“Particularly, Imee Marcos was recommended to file plunder charge on the misuse of the Php66 Million Tobacco Excise Tax fund by the house committee on good governance,” he added.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio meanwhile argued that while the decision “is too little, too late,” it “gives us a taste of justice.”

“We hope that similar cases can be pursued against the Marcos children. This is how the Marcoses can be held accountable for their crimes, exorcized from public service, once and for all, and prevented from rewriting history and erasing the bloody and corrupt legacy of the Marcos dictatorship,” he said.

For his part, Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin pointed out that Marcos’ conviction was “a clear and unequivocal proof that she deserve history’s judgment of a conjugal dictatorship that plunged our country in darkness more than three decades ago.”

Villarin also said this historic decision “rejects the Marcos’ own narrative of historical revisionism that they brought about the golden years in our country’s history.”

The Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division handed the guilty verdict against the widow of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos for violating R.A. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act when she transferred around $200 million to seven Swiss foundations during her term as Batasang Pambansa member and as then Minister of Human Settlements.

She is sentenced to imprisonment of six years and one month up to 11 years for each count. The lawmaker is also ordered arrested but she can still post for bail as graft is a bailable charge. Her camp can also file a motion for reconsideration or appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court.  /muf