Bongbong identifies FM signatures

Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yesterday identified some of the signatures and handwriting of his father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos, on marginal notes attached to letters from Lucio Tan’s companies, which allegedly confirmed allegations that the former strongman had indeed facilitated some of the transactions.

“As far as I can tell, it appears to be the signature and handwriting of my father,” said Marcos during his testimony at the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division.

Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) lawyer Catalino Generillo had presented more than a dozen “xerox copies” of the documents allegedly from Tan’s companies. Attached to these letters of the companies were alleged signatures of President Marcos and his handwritten “marginal notes.”

Since the documents presented by Generillo before the court were only copies, Tan’s lawyer, former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza, and lawyers of the other defendants objected to the presentation.

Generillo, on the other hand, cut short Marcos’ testimony since the congressman had to attend a “minority caucus” in Congress yesterday afternoon.

Mendoza had raised suspicions that the government and the Marcoses had forged a “compromise deal” to seize Tan’s assets.

“This is amusing. The government is using Bongbong Marcos to bolster their case. All the while I thought the late President Marcos was on the other side. All the while I thought the government was part of the efforts to oust the Marcoses in 1986,” said Mendoza.

Mendoza cited that the PCGG’s legal team handling the ill-gotten wealth cases is depending on the Marcoses for evidence.

Mendoza said the government is now relying on Rep. Marcos to get the original documents from the United States Department of Treasury, which seized the documents in 1986 in Hawaii.

He said the government should instead acquire the original documents to prove their allegations that the late president and the Marcos estate owns 60 percent of Tan’s assets.

He also expressed confidence that the Marcoses will not be able to get the 60 percent they are claiming from Tan’s properties.

Mendoza said the Sandiganbayan also has no jurisdiction over the problem of Marcos and Tan. He denied that Tan acquired his properties using government funds, bolstering his confidence that they would win the case.

“We know from the start that Mr. Tan was a businessman, and he acquired his properties using private funds, his own money,” Mendoza said.

He also assailed Marcos for giving priority to yesterday’s caucus of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives over the court proceedings which have been pending for more than 20 years. 

The court has scheduled the next court appearance of Rep. Marcos on Oct. 15, 16 and 18, by which time Marcos would hopefully have acquired back all the original documents from the US Department of Treasury.

Mendoza, meanwhile, asked the Sandiganbayan to declare the case closed whether or not PCGG lawyers and Marcos would be able to present the original documents from the US government which would allegedly prove part ownership of the late president in nine out of eleven properties of Tan.

The Marcoses said the family holdings were in Tan’s Fortune Tobacco Corp., Asia Brewery Inc., Allied Banking Corp., Foremost Farms, Himmel Industries Inc., Granspan Development Corp., Silangan Holdings Inc., Dominium Realty and Construction Corp.

These are the same companies the PCGG is seeking to be forfeited in favor of the government.

In a related development, Generillo denied Mendoza’s claim that Rep. Marcos is a “cooperative hostile witness.”

Generillo said the observation of the defense is premature because Marcos even said that some of the signatures in the documents presented to him may not belong to his father.

He reiterated that the Marcoses have reached a point where they would either lose their money to the government or to Lucio Tan.

Generillo confirmed that the PCGG is also planning to present three more witnesses after Rep. Marcos.

He, however, would not confirm whether former First Lady Imelda Marcos is among those witnesses, although he said one of those witnesses is what the media described as a “national treasure.”

In the Senate, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III raised questions yesterday over the decision of Rep. Marcos to testify before the Sandiganbayan and lay claim over some of the business interests of Tan.

Aquino also asked why the Marcos scion was laying claim to properties under somebody’s name when indeed these belonged to the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Aquino said Bongbong’s claims are contradictory to earlier pronouncements by members of the Marcos’ clan that they had not amassed illegal wealth during the dictatorship. – Christina Mendez