THE Sandiganbayan has ordered the names of former Energy Minister Geronimo Velasco, Manila Bulletin owner Emilio T. Yap, and former Jai Alai Corp director Olympio Bermudez dropped as defendants in a 37-year-old ill-gotten wealth case against former President Ferdinand Marcos.
In an 18-page resolution promulgated last February 23, 2024, the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division granted separate demurrers to evidence filed by the heirs of Velasco, the joint administrators of the estate of Yap, and Bermudez.
Based on the Amended Complaint filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the three were accused of having acted as “dummies, nominees, agents, incorporators, directors, board members and/or stockholders” of corporations beneficially held or controlled by the Marcos couple and former Tacloban City mayor Alfredo Romualdez, brother of former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
In their demurrers to evidence, all three respondents argued that the totality of the evidence presented by government lawyers is nowhere near establishing the allegations in the complaint concerning their supposed participation.
They pointed out that prosecution witnesses Maria Lourdes Magno, head of the PCGG’s Library and Records Division, and Antonio Rolando Eduarte, administrative officer of the Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Company (Baseco), were merely presented to identify and authenticate documentary exhibits marked by the plaintiff Republic of the Philippines.
They argued that none of the said documents support the allegation that they were dummies, nominees or agents of the Marcoses and Romualdez.
Velasco highlighted the admissions of the record custodians called by the government to the witness stand that they had no personal knowledge about the contents of the documents and that they were there simply to identify them.
Yap noted the absence of evidence to show that his shares in Baseco were issued to him by the government or any of its instrumentalities or that he took advantage of any supposed connection to Marcos or his relatives.
In granting the demurrers to evidence and dismissing the cases against Velasco, Yap, and Bermudez, the Sandiganbayan agreed that the government evidence fell short of the required proof to establish the allegations.
“After a circumspect evaluation of the evidence on record and the demurrers to evidence filed by defendants Yap, Bermudez, and Velasco, the Court is constrained to rule that the plaintiff Republic failed to prove the allegations in the Amended Complaint by a preponderance of evidence as against them,” the court declared.
It said the testimonies of Magno and Eduarte as records custodians for the PCGG and Baseco were insufficient to establish how the defendants were supposed to have been part of enabling the Marcoses and Romualdez to acquire and conceal ill-gotten wealth.
Further weakening the government’s case was the denial of admission to the records of the bulk of its documentary evidence for being mere photocopies.
“Witness Magno merely stated that photocopies were turned over to her by her predecessors without even accounting for the non-production of the original documents,” the Sandiganbayan pointed out.
Based on the offer of evidence, the government’s exhibits were intended to prove that Alfredo Romualdez was the true and beneficial owner of Baseco; that with a nod from then President Marcos, certain parcels of land owned by the Export Processing Zone in Mariveles, Bataan were transferred to Baseco; and that Romualdez and the Marcoses controlled Baseco, Manila International Ports Terminal Inc. (MIPTI), and Philippine Jail Alai and Amusement Corp (PJAC).
However, the court pointed out that none of the evidence proves that Bermudez, Velasco, or Yap, by themselves and/or in unlawful concert and active collaboration with the other defendants, “planned, schemed, and devised strategies to unlawfully and unjustly enrich themselves and the expense of the plaintiff and the Filipino people.”
“None of these exhibits prove the actual participation of defendants Bermudez, Velasco, and Yap in the alleged acquisition of defendant Romualdez of a majority share in Baseco, MIPTI, PJAC, and PDC (Philippine Dockyard Corp.),” the Sandiganbayan added.
