'Use FM wealth for Phl recovery'

MANILA, Philippines - The Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) reiterated its call for President Aquino to lift the sequestration order on the Marcos wealth so that the government can use the multi-billion accounts for the economic recovery of the country.

Marcos loyalist lawyer and KBL spokesman Oliver Lozano told The STAR that aside from the appeal to

the President, he has also filed a case before the Court of Appeals (CA) for the lifting of the sequestration order and they are just waiting for the resolution of the petition.

He said the Marcos wealth is among the priority agenda of the KBL and it has recently been revitalized to fulfill the wish of the former president to use his multi-billion wealth for the benefit of the Filipinos.

Lozano also said the party has created a civic action arm - Kilusang Bagong Liwanag - that will coordinate with Marcos supporters in generating funds for disaster preparedness and livelihood assistance programs at the grassroots.

The KBL spokesman also clarified that former first lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos remains the honorary chairperson of the party.

He said since the former strongman founded KBL, the party cannot be separated from the Marcos family.

“KBL is Marcos, Marcos is KBL,” he said, adding that Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. remains a party member even if he ran under the Nacionalista Party of Sen. Manuel Villar in the last election.

The KBL is now headed by Jaime Opinion, a former commissioner of the Commission on Elections, who assumed the post after party chairman Vicente Millora resigned to join a party-list group in the last election.

Opinion was a former delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention representing the province of Eastern Samar, and was among the founding members of the KBL together with Millora and Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.

During the first presidential election after the EDSA revolt, the KBL was divided into two factions, the Yñiguez wing of former speaker Nicanor Yñiguez that supported the presidential candidacy of Cojuangco, and the Millora wing that supported the candidacy of Imelda.

The Yñiguez wing later became the Nationalist People’s Coalition of Cojuangco.