Imelda Marcos assets in San Juan in peril

MANILA, Philippines—Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, the widow of the ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is on the point of losing her San Juan properties.

The Commission on Audit (COA) has assigned a team to appraise Imelda’s three properties in San Juan that the Sandiganbayan had seized to enforce an earlier ruling ordering her to pay P10 million, plus P2 million in damages, to the government.

The Sandiganbayan Sheriff and Security Division earlier asked the COA for assistance in conducting the valuation of the three San Juan properties of Imelda that it had earlier seized in order to enforce a court ruling.

The three properties consists of a 1,584–square meter lot in Don Mariano Marcos, Maytunas;  a 932–sq m lot on Claro M. Recto, Maytunas; and an 864–sq m lot on P. Guevarra corner Maude streets, Maytunas.

In a Nov. 11 letter to COA chair Grace Pulido-Tan, acting chief judicial staff officer Albert de la Cruz said the properties to be appraised are the subject of levy and sale.

The Sandiganbayan 5th Division issued an alias writ of execution against Imelda’s properties after she failed to comply with the court ruling to pay the P12 million to the government.

The court earlier ruled that P10 million had been illegally transferred from the National Food Authority’s (NFA) account to a private account on orders of the late dictator.

The money represented the NFA’s rebate granted by the Philippine National Lines, an agency created to establish a reliable shipping service.