Former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos: Brazen use of force. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–The widow and children of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos on Wednesday assailed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for its “brazen use of force and threats” in rummaging through the Marcos family’s San Juan residence in its hunt for the expensive paintings that were ordered seized by the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court.
In a motion for reconsideration, former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos told the antigraft court’s Special Division that the writ of preliminary attachment it issued last Sept. 29 should be considered null and void since it was issued after an entry of judgment had already been made on the civil case which the government filed against the Marcoses.
In January 2004, she said the Supreme Court had granted her family’s petition for the entry of judgment on the civil case which the government filed on Dec. 17, 1991, in its bid to recover some $365 million in alleged Marcos deposits in five Swiss banks.
The deposits were allegedly under the names of the dummies of the Marcos family.
“Hence, it is clear that the (Philippine government) can no longer seek the issuance of a writ of preliminary attachment,” the Marcos lawyers said.
Imelda, who has been accused of running a conjugal dictatorship with her late husband during the martial law period, said the NBI agents and the Sandiganbayan personnel who searched their family’s house in San Juan implemented the writ of attachment “as if it were an arrest or search warrant.”
“Reminiscent more of a military or police operation rather than the implementation of a civil process, sheriffs, accompanied by armed NBI agents, swooped down on the residences and offices of the respondents in simultaneous operations and barged or threatened their way in, as if they were enforcing arrest or search warrants,” she said.
She said the members of the raiding team even pointed their guns at the family’s employees who were keeping an eye on the house.
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