‘Palace dropped ball on Marcos suit’

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang was no longer up to speed on developments in the P50-billion ill-gotten wealth suit that the government had filed 24 years ago against the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the late Armed Forces chief of staff Fabian Ver and then Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin.

The Sandiganbayan last week junked the suit, saying that state lawyers had failed to prove that Marcos, Ver, Ongpin and other principals in the so-called Binondo Central Bank conspired to steal and appropriate government resources for themselves.

“As we can see, this case has spanned 24 years. We don’t know how many lawyers handled this case and what pieces of evidence had already been presented,” Undersecretary Abigail Valte, President Aquino’s deputy spokesperson, said Saturday in an interview over state-run radio dzRB.

“We will defer to the (Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Solicitor General) for any action that they may wish to take in light of the acquittal of the accused,” she said.

Steps to prevention

Valte said the government was taking steps to prevent a repeat of such an acquittal in the other ill-gotten wealth cases being pursued by the Aquino administration, including those against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“The handling of various cases depends on the agency but when it comes to the executive branch, the President always says that, as in cases involving President Arroyo, the cases should be strong and ensure conviction,” Valte said.

Binondo Central Bank

Marcos, Ongpin, Ver, several of the former military chief’s relatives and a host of bankers and businessmen were accused of unlawfully enriching themselves at the expense of the public by manipulating the trading of dollars from 1984 to 1986 in the so-called Binondo Central Bank.

The secret underground dollar market was formed during the currency crisis of the 1980s that was caused by the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr.

Foreign lenders stopped lending to the Philippines and businessmen found it difficult to obtain the dollars they needed for business.

State lawyers alleged that Ongpin and Ver, acting on Marcos’ orders, organized in 1983 eight black-market money traders into what was tagged as the Binondo Central Bank.

Edna Camcam, then a director at Equitable Banking Corp., reportedly provided the banking facilities for the group’s activities.

Witnesses in the case said the group bought dollars locally and deposited them in Hong Kong while running rings around the Philippines’ banking and tax laws.

The Philippine government had asked the court for P50 billion in moral damages and another P1 billion in exemplary damages in addition to undetermined temperate and nominal damages.