Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. INQUIRER.net file photo / CATHY MIRANDA
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte’s claim that there was no proof to pin down the Marcoses for amassing ill-gotten wealth during the 20-year regime of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was just made up and not true, opposition Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said Thursday.
The Liberal Party stalwart issued the statement a day after the Chief Executive claimed during his speech at the general assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines in Manila that: “Until now, you have not proven anything except to sequester and sell. Hindi mo nga sigurado kung talagang kay Marcos ba ‘yan?”
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“Marami sa mga pahayag ng Pangulo ay hindi totoo at isa na itong hindi pa daw napapatunayan na mga magnanakaw ang mga Marcos. Huwag tayo basta-basta magpapaniwala sa mga sinasabi niya dahil mahilig siyang magsabi ng gawa-gawa lamang. Kahit siya mismo inamin niya na sa bawat 5 na sinasabi niya 3 ay hindi totoo. Isa na ito,” Pangilinan said.
(Many of the President’s statements are not true and one of which is when he said that the Marcoses are not proven of stealing anything. Let us not easily believe to anything he is saying because he tends to say something that is totally made up. Even he himself admitted that five of three he has said are not true. This is one of them.)
“Doon lang tayo sa totoo [Let’s just go for the truth],” he added.
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The senator cited Supreme Court decisions favoring the government, which forfeited some of the Marcoses’ wealth supposedly stashed by the former president and his wife Imelda “under layers and layers of foundations and corporate entities.”
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Pangilinan also pointed out that the Sandiganbayan found Imelda guilty of seven counts of graft last Nov. 9, 2018. The anti-graft court ruled on seven cases concerning Swiss accounts where around $200 million were channeled by Mrs. Marcos while holding various positions in government during her husband’s reign. Imelda was later allowed to post bail. /jpv
READ: Imelda Marcos guilty of graft, ordered arrested | Imelda Marcos to appeal graft conviction