THE Sandiganbayan has thrown out a government case against a former aide of the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos and a logging company that allegedly received special favors under the dictatorship, saying the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) showed little interest in pursuing the case.
In the five-page resolution dated October 11, 2021 but released only this week, the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division affirmed its pronouncement in the assailed February 19, 2021 resolution that the case should be dismissed “for failure of the plaintiff to prosecute.”
The petition, filed in August 2017, sought the revival and enforcement of the 2007 judgment of the Supreme Court that ordered defendants Juan Tuvera, Victor Tuvera, and Twin Peaks Development Corp. to pay the government P1 million for temperate damages, and another P1 million for exemplary damages.
In its 2007 ruling, the SC reversed the Sandiganbayan’s dismissal of the original case filed on December 9, 1988 which alleged that Juan Tuvera, as executive assistant to Marcos, obtained favors in the form of a timber license agreement (TLA) No. 356 on behalf of Twin Peaks Development Corp.
Government lawyers claimed that while Twin Peaks was registered as a property developer, it was granted a TLA that enabled it to engage in logging operations covering 26,000 hectares of forest lands in the municipality of Isabela, Quirino province, mostly cutting down narra species for export abroad.
The original complaint alleged that “Twin Peaks exploited the country’s natural resources by engaging in large-scale logging and the export of its produce through its Chinese operators whereby respondents obtained a revenue of approximately P45 million.”
However, the Sandiganbayan dismissed the case on May 23, 2001 on the ground of res judicata, declaring the PCGG is already barred from questioning the validity of TLA No. 356.
It cited an order of the Office of the President dated August 14, 1987 which denied a separate claim by another logging firm over the same area held by Twin Peaks.
While faulting the government lawyers for failure to present proof of the amount that the government is supposed to recover, the SC said it found sufficient basis to award temperate and exemplary damages to teach the lesson “that kleptocracy cannot pay.”
However, while the Sandiganbayan accepted the petition reviving the case, the PCGG failed to comply with its directives to serve summons of the defendants by publication.
In its motion for reconsideration, the PCGG claimed it was trying to conduct a public bidding for several newspapers that can publish the summons.
In addition, it said that in 2020, it decided to try to reach a compromise agreement with the defendants.
Again, nothing happened because the commission only had two sitting commissioners and therefore cannot constitute the quorum required to approve the settlement.
Tuvera’s camp countered that there was no proof that the PCGG even tried to start a bidding process since there was no proof of posting on the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS).
