THE Sandiganbayan Second Division yesterday granted a request from the camp of President Marcos Jr. to move back by a month the start of his presentation of evidence in Civil Case No. 0014, a pending ill-gotten wealth case.
In open court, Associate Justice Oscar C. Herrera, division chairperson, ordered proceedings reset to the first week of August to give Marcos more time to prepare after his counsel Manuel Plaza admitted that the defendant is unprepared to proceed.
Aside from the President’s preoccupation with his duties in his week-old administration, the lawyer said the legal team has not been apprised of the progress of the 35-year-old case because it has barely moved due to various challenges in procedures.
“We received a copy of the order, I think, just two weeks ago, Your Honor. The records that we have in the office are incomplete so that what we know of this case are bits and pieces that were furnished us by the court or by parties,” Plaza explained.
The counsel for President Marcos said it is unlikely that he will make an appearance in court in future hearings.
“We will have to check the rules, as you know our client is the President, so he has other matters to attend to. We will consult with the court,” he told reporters.
Originally named defendants when the case was filed in 1987 were Marcos’ parents, the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos and former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos, together with their alleged associates and cronies Modesto Enriquez, Trinidad Diaz Enriquez, Rebecco Panlilio, Erlinda Enriquez-Panlilio, Leandro Enriquez, Roman Cruz, Jr. and Gregorio Castillo.
When the complaint was amended in 1991, the government also moved for the inclusion of several corporations as defendants including Philippine Village Hotel, Silahis International Hotel, Puerto Azul Beach Club, and Ternate Development Corporation.
When the strongman died in 1989, the Sandiganbayan named his wife and three children — Sen. Imee Marcos, now President Marcos Jr. and Irene Marcos-Araneta — as substitute defendants.
Based on case records, government lawyers completed their presentation of evidence on Sept. 11, 2018.
While the Marcoses were previously barred from presenting evidence after being declared in default for failure to file their respective answers to the complaint, the Sandiganbayan later lifted the default ruling and allowed the family to participate in the proceedings.
“Cases should be decided not only after giving all the parties the chance to argue their causes and defenses. Technicality and procedural imperfection should, as a rule, not serve as bases of decisions. In that way, the ends of justice would be served,” the Second Division held in its June 22, 2022 resolution.
The court said upon resumption of hearings in the case, the defendants are expected to be ready to mark their exhibits, submit the list of witnesses to be presented as well as proposals for stipulations, if any.
