P150,000 bail ‘just small change’ for Imelda Marcos – Robredo

Vice President Leni Robredo (File photo by JAM STA ROSA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The P150,000 bail that former first lady Imelda Marcos posted is just “small change,” considering the size of her family’s alleged “ill-gotten wealth,” according to Vice President Leni Robredo.

“Iyong 150,000 pesos na bail, napakaliit considering the enormity noong ninakaw,” Robredo said in a statement issued on  Saturday. “Pangalawa, barya lang iyon sa kaniya, eh. Barya lang iyong 150,000 [pesos].”

[That 150,000 pesos bail is very small considering the enormity of what was stolen. Secondly, that’s just small change for her. The 150,000 pesos is just small change.]

Robredo issued the statement after the Sandiganbayan last Friday allowed Marcos to post P150,000 bail.

READ: Court allows Imelda Marcos to post P150,00 bail

Robredo also said that, unlike Marcos, some of her poor clients would have to give up their property just to post bail.

“Abogado din ako sa mga mahihirap. Nakita ko kung paano, for 10,000 pesos na bail, isasangla noong mga kliyente ko iyong mga kaunting ari-arian nila o mangungutang sa iba para lang maka-come up with that. Tapos itong napakayaman [Marcos], parang nilibre mo na lang,” she said.

[I’m a lawyer for the poor. I saw how for bail of P10,000, my clients will pawn what little properties they have or they borrowed money to come up with the amount. Now in this case of someone so rich, it’s like they just set her free.]

Last Nov. 9, the Fifth Division of the Sandiganbayan found Marcos guilty for seven counts of graft in relation to the transfer of $200 million to Swiss foundations, which she created with her husband, then President Ferdinand Marcos, and listed their children among their beneficiaries. /atm