EVIL TRUTHS BEHIND IMELDA CONVICTION

These are excerpts from the column of Mr. Rigoberto Tiglao in manilatimes.net on the evil truths behind the graft conviction of former First Lady Imelda Marcos by the Sandiganbayan(https://www.manilatimes.net/colossal-propaganda-lies-over-sandiganbayans-imelda-decision/471060/). Except for The Manila Times, I have not seen these points in national media. Anybody correct me if I’m wrong.

Quoting the decision: She is “guilty beyond reasonable doubt for violation of RA 3019, Section 3(h) in relation to Article IX, Section 8 of the 1973 Constitution” for having a stake in seven “foundations” with monies in Switzerland.

RA 3019 is the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act of 1960, and its Section 3(h) provides that one corrupt practice is “directly or indirectly having financial or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity…”

For example, it is corruption if a public works official intervenes to get for his firm a government construction project, or to get a national road pass through a subdivision he owns. It is not corruption for him to just have shares in a construction or subdivision company.

That provision in the 1973 Constitution, which imposes a ban on a Cabinet member “participating in the management of any business” was deleted in the 1987 Constitution.

How in the world could Imelda be convicted in 2018 for charges filed in 1991 to 1993, for alleged crimes committed from 1968 to 1970 (when the foundations were organized) based on a provision in the 1973 Constitution that was deleted in the present 1987 Constitution? Note that the 1960 Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act has a 10-year prescription period.

As Supreme Court decisions on this issue (Macariola v. Asuncion and People v. Meneses, to cite two) pointed out, “ it is necessary that by reason of his office, he has to intervene in said contracts or transactions and, hence, the official who intervenes in contracts or transactions which have no relation to his office cannot commit this crime.”

It is certainly preposterous to claim that Mrs. Marcos used her positions as First Lady, Minister of Human Settlements, and Governor of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to intervene to benefit the entities in Switzerland her husband had set up.

There was no law passed that implemented the 1973 Constitution’s Section 8 provision that banned a Cabinet member from “participating in the management of any business.”

An analogy would be the fact that our present Constitution bans political dynasties (Article II, Section 26) but there is no law that implements it. The Ejercitos, Angaras, Revillas, Binays, and Dutertes aren’t committing any crime. In short, Imelda has been convicted by the Sandiganbayan on a law that doesn’t exist.

Nowhere in the Sandiganbayan decision did it conclude that Imelda with her husband Ferdinand “plundered” the nation’s coffers. Nowhere in the decision did the Sandiganbayan conclude, nor did it even discuss, whether or not the funds in the Swiss foundations allegedly owned by the Marcoses were acquired through corruption.

Second, nowhere in the Sandiganbayan decision did it claim that Imelda earned “as much as $200 million from the foundations’ investments.” A worse lie of this “$200 million” thing is the claim by the Yellows that the Sandiganbayan convicted Imelda for stashing “$200 million” in Swiss accounts.

It must be emphasized that contrary to what many Filipinos think, there is no law that makes it criminal for any Filipino citizen, not even a government official, to have overseas bank accounts or to set up foundations or businesses in Switzerland,Timbuktu or anywhere in the world. What our anti-graft laws require for a graft conviction is that there must be proof that money in an overseas account or anywhere in the Philippines was criminally acquired through corruption, or the use of a government position.

Sumagot na ang gustong sumagot.

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