The Supreme Court building in Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court ordered the lifting of the freeze order on the P54-million assets of retired Philippine Army Comptroller Lieutenant General Jacinto Ligot and his family members.
In a 24-page decision, the high court’s second division penned by Associate Justice Arturo Brion said the Ligot’s rights to due process were violated when the freeze order has been extended indefinitely.
The freeze order stayed while it took the government six years to file a forfeiture case against Ligot and his family.
The high court said that the Ligots’ right to due process was violated by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) which requested the issuance of the freeze order. The high court noted that while Republic Act (RA) No. 9160 (Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001) allows the issuance of freeze orders, a CA-issued freeze order which runs for 20 days may only be extended for 6 months.
The high court stressed that any indefinite implementation of freeze orders on assets will affect the fundamental constitutional rights of citizens.
“To our mind, the six-month extension period is ordinarily sufficient for the government to act against the suspected money launderer and to file the appropriate forfeiture case against him, and is a reasonable period as well that recognizes the property owner’s right to due process. In this case, the period of inaction of six years, under the circumstances, already far exceeded what is reasonable,” the high court said.
“Under these circumstances, we cannot but conclude that the continued extension of the freeze order beyond the six month period violated the Ligot’s right to due process; thus, the CA decision should be reversed,” the decision read.
But the high court clarified that the lifting of the freeze order should not affect pending cases against the Ligots for their alleged ill-gotten wealth, including forfeiture proceedings against them.
“The lifting is without prejudice to, and shall not affect, the preservation orders that the lower courts have ordered on the same properties in the cases pending before them,” the decision read.
The high court commended the appeals court for assisting the government in its efforts to prosecute corrupt officials. But the high court reminded the appeals court that the government’s anti-corruption drive “cannot be done at the expense of cherished fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.”
The high court remanded the case to the appeals court for the transmittal of the records of the case to the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 22 where civil forfeiture proceedings against the family remains pending.
The ruling was concurred in by Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Mariano del Castillo, Jose Portugal Perez and Estela Perlas-Bernabe.