Roman Cruz’s heirs seek end of case

MANILA, Philippines—The heirs of Roman Cruz Jr., an alleged crony of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, on Tuesday asked the Sandiganbayan to throw out an ill-gotten wealth case that was filed against Cruz by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) 27 years ago, because state lawyers failed to attend the pretrial hearing of the case last Feb. 5.

Lawyers Augusto San Pedro and Jenny Santiago, who represent the Cruz heirs, called for the outright dismissal of the case because the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General did not attend the hearing despite having been notified by the court.

The civil case against Cruz was filed on July 21, 1987. His corespondents were former President Ferdinand Marcos and former first lady Imelda Marcos, who is now a House representative for Ilocos Norte.

“It is a basic rule that a plaintiff failing to appear at a pretrial is a cause for the dismissal of the action with prejudice, unless otherwise ordered by the court,” the Cruz lawyers said.

The PCGG is seeking the forfeiture of the Cruz heirs’ real estate properties valued at P276.69 million, including two lots and two condominium units in Baguio City, a residential building in Makati, a parcel of land and six condominium units in California, and a residential lot in Manila.

The PCGG has also asked for an award of P50 billion in moral damages and P1 billion in exemplary damages.—Cynthia D. Balana