THE Sandiganbayan has ordered the release of millions in escrowed earnings and cash assets of a sequestered firm, plus billions worth of bank shares of stocks to the family of late Ambassador Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez, 39 years after wrongful sequestration by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
In a 12-page resolution issued on May 16, 2025, the anti-graft court’s Sixth Division noted that the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision sustained the nullification of the 1986 writ of sequestration over Trans Middle East (Phils.) Equities Inc. (TMEE) and ordered the release of the assets from custodia legis (in the custody of the law) since there is no longer any doubt as to legitimate ownership.
The same SC ruling became final and executory on Oct. 4, 2023.
“In view of the Supreme Court’s decision dated July 6, 2022 in Trans Middle East (Phils.) Equities, Inc. (TMEE) Inc. v Sandiganbayan (Fifth Division), the Sandiganbayan can no longer retain legal custody over the subject previously sequestered assets. Thus, as directed by the Supreme Court …, this Court directs the Sandiganbayan’s Executive Clerk of Court, the PCGG, and all other concerned entities to immediately release the said assets which may still be in their custody,” the court said.
The resolution was penned by Associate Justice Sarah Jane T. Fernandez with concurrences from Associate Justices Kevin Narce B. Vivero and Lord A. Villanueva.
On March 4, 2025, the court ordered the PCGG, the Office of the Executive Clerk of Court of the Sandiganbayan, and Banco de Oro Unibank Inc (BDO) to render an accounting of all properties and assets pertaining to TMEE in connection with the pending case, Civil Case No. 0035.
Executive clerk of court Teresa Pabulayan informed the court that based on records, the government, through the PCGG, seized the assets of TMEE on April 15, 1986 including 6,119,067 shares of stocks.
The PCGG sequestration was based on suspicion that TMEE was part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos relatives and associates.
The late Ambassador Romualdez is a brother-in-law of former strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos, being the youngest brother of former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos who is the mother of current President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
A certification dated March 25, 2025 submitted by the PCGG’s Finance and Administration said an escrow account was created on Oct. 31, 1991 under the name “PCGG-ITF-Trans Middle East Phils” with the Bureau of Treasury.
“As of 31 December 2024 the account holds a total balance of P48,881,012.92 inclusive of accrued interest,” the PCGG said.
On the other hand, the BDO filed its compliance through a certification dated April 7, 2025 stating that a stock certificate for 33,042,961 BDO shares was released by its stock and transfer agent Stock Transfer Service Inc. (STSI) to TMEE.
The BDO shares were in replacement for the 18,357,201 Equitable PCI Bank (EPCI) shares which were changed after the merger in 2007 that made Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO) the biggest bank in the country.
Based on submissions to the court, the shares were already worth P3.5 billion as of 2010 when the Sandiganbayan ordered the TMEE dropped as a defendant from Civil Case No. 0035.
It held that the PCGG had no valid cause of action to pursue the forfeiture of the Romualdez-owned company, noting the firm was left out from the original complaint and the three subsequent amended versions.
More to the point, the court noted that the PCGG admitted that TMEE acquired its PCI Bank shares using a P47.24-million loan obtained in 1984 by Southern Leyte Oil Mills Inc. (Soloil) on behalf of TMEE.
The court said this belied the allegation that public funds were involved in the transaction.
The First Philippine Holdings Corp. of the Lopez family also tried to stake a claim over TMEE’s assets but its motion for intervention was dismissed by the court for having been filed beyond the four-year reglementary period set under Article 1391 of the Civil Code.
