THE Sandiganbayan has affirmed its decision forfeiting the P53.853 million cash assets of Lt. Gen. (ret.) Jacinto Ligot and his family in favor of the government after declaring them as “unlawfully acquired properties.”
Associate Justice Michael Frederick L. Musngi penned the four-page resolution promulgated on November 15, 2021 that denied due to lack of merit the Ligots’ motion for reconsideration of the court’s May 26, 2021 decision.
Associate Justices Oscar C. Herrera Jr. and Bayani H. Jacinto concurred.
The case, which was filed way back in June 2013, was the second petition for forfeiture lodged with the Sandiganbayan against the former comptroller of the Armed Forces of the Philippines before, who retired from active service in 2004.
It involved 13 accounts — including seven investment accounts with the Armed Forces and Police Savings and Loan Association Inc. (AFPSLAI), and six bank accounts with Equitable PCI Bank (now Banco de Oro), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Land Bank of the Philippines, and Citicorp Financial Services and Insurance Brokerage Phil. Inc. (CFSI).
The AFPSLAI accounts were in the name of Ligot, his wife Erlinda, and their children Riza, Paulo and Miguel.
Of the bank accounts, the biggest one was traced at CFSI holding P52.525 million in cash but listed in the name of Gilda Y. Alfonso-Velasquez, a cousin of Mrs. Ligot.
However, based on evidence presented by the Office of the Ombudsman, the CFSI account was previously under the names of Mrs. Ligot and two of her children, Paulo and Riza Ligot.
The other bank accounts held various amounts ranging from P5,109.39 to P61,516.11.
In their appeal, the Ligots argued that the Sandiganbayan was wrong in holding that the P53.853 million was “manifestly out of proportion” to their compensation income, saying the former AFP official earned P6.24 million in 2003 alone.
At the same time, the family protested that that the anti-graft court allowed a splitting of a single cause of action citing the earlier civil case also for forfeiture of alleged unlawfully acquired assets filed in 2005.
They said the filing of multiple suits constituted “harassment” which caused them undue vexation.
The Ligots likewise tried to seek refuge behind bank secrecy laws invoking RA 6246 or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines, which clothed foreign currency deposits with confidentiality.
Since none of them issued a written permission, they said the government could not have legally accessed and examined their bank accounts.
Government lawyers countered that the arguments were mere reiterations of the issues that were already raised during trial and resolved by the court in favor of the State.
They underscored that the evidence on record have already established the key points of the petition: that Lt. Gen. (ret.) Ligot acquired the said assets during his incumbency and their aggregate value was manifestly out of proportion to his income from legitimate sources; and that his immediate family and respondent Velasquez had no legitimate sources of income of their own.
