PCGG closes in on Imelda’s P36.6-M ill-gotten wealth

former First Lady Imelda Marcos INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Presidential Commission on Good Government is close to getting its hands on P36.6 million, plus interest, of ill-gotten wealth from former First Lady and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, which the Sandiganbayan earlier ordered returned to the government.

The PCGG has filed a motion asking the antigraft court’s 5th Division to order the Philippine Veterans Bank, where Marcos maintains an account, to deliver the P36.6 million to the government, through the PCGG. The money will then be transmitted to the Bureau of Treasury.

The PCGG filed the motion after Sandiganbayan Acting Judicial Staff Officer Albert de la Cruz reported that Marcos’ Philippine Veterans Bank account had already been garnished, and that the deposits there were sufficient to cover the P36.6 million.

De la Cruz had issued the notice of garnishment, or freeze order, on Marcos’ PVB deposits last month. The bank subsequently informed De la Cruz that it had ordered the freezing of the amount sufficient to cover the court order.

The bank did not disclose the total amount of Marcos’ deposits, but any deposit exceeding P36.6 million would not be taken by the state.

The Sandiganbayan had issued a ruling in 2010 directing Marcos, as defendant and legal representative of her husband, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, to return to the state P10 million in illegally disbursed funds from the National Food Authority, plus interest.

She was also ordered to pay P1.95 million in moral, exemplary and nominal damages, as well as attorney’s fees.