AFTER 12 years of pendency in court, the corruption case against executives of Herdis Management and Investment Corp., the company that allegedly induced the late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos to agree to an unlawful transaction, has ended with zero conviction.
In a resolution dated April 21, 2025, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division ordered the dismissal of the case against the last remaining defendant, Jerry Orlina, former member of the Herdis Board of Directors.
It was the prosecution that moved for the dismissal of the case as it acknowledged having little to no evidence with which to go to trial. The prosecution itself admitted that Orlina’s name was only mentioned in the affidavit of government witness and retired banker Angelo Manahan. The prosecution perceived the difficulty in obtaining Manahan’s testimony. “Moreover, they are fully aware that Orlina was involved in a transaction different from the subject matter of the instant case,” the Sandiganbayan said.
When the case for alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act was filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2013, the prosecution accused Herdis officials of persuading Marcos to accept four billion shares of The Energy Corporation (TEC) and two-and-a-half billion shares of Vulcan Industrial and Mining Corporation (VIMC) in March 1982 despite knowing that, as President, he was barred by law from having financial interests in the firms.
Named in the original indictment were the now late businessman Herminio Disini, his cousin Jesus Disini, and Herdis officers Jerry Orlina, Alfredo Velayo, and Dominico Borja.
Herminio Disini passed away in 2014 while the case against Jesus Disini was dismissed by the court on the basis of his immunity agreement with the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) signed on Feb. 16, 1989.
Jesus Disini obtained the immunity deal in exchange for cooperating in the government investigation into irregularities attending the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) deal with US contractors Westinghouse and Burns and Roe.
Unable to trace the whereabouts of the other accused, the Sandiganbayan ordered the case archived in March 2019 but issued alias warrants of arrest issued against the remaining defendants.
On May, 17, 2024, the court finally acquired jurisdiction over Borja after he was arrested but 10 months later, the case against him was dismissed on an admission by prosecutors that they cannot establish the conspiracy between him and the rest of his co-accused.
A document from the Philippine Statistics Authority, released at the request of the prosecution, showed that Velayo had also passed away years earlier, leaving Orlina as the last remaining defendant.
In granting the government motion to dismiss Orlina’s case, the court noted that Orlina was implicated only in the receipt of commissions by Herdis from the Westinghouse Electric Corp, not about the transfer of the Vulcan and TEC shares to Marcos.
“For the inability of the prosecution to discharge its burden to prove the conspiracy among the accused and his guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the Court has no other choice but to dismiss the case against Orlinas,” the Sandiganbayan said.
