The Supreme Court reversed a 2010 Sandiganbayan ruling allowing the return of a 25-hectare property in Cabuyao, Laguna to the Marcos family after being sequestered by the government more than 20 years ago.

 

In a decision by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC’s Second Division granted the appeal of the Presidential Commission on Good Government seeking to keep theMarcos Mansion in the preliminary attachments of the pending civil suit on the ill-gotten wealth of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

 

Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Jr., Mariano del Castillo, and Jose Catral Mendoza concurred with the ruling.

 

The high court ruled that the property should not be returned to Marcos’ heirs pending resolution of Civil Case No. 2 against them.

 

The tribunal stressed that the Sandiganbayan “should have issued an order of preliminary attachment considering that the requisites of the law - including that of Executive Order No. 14 - have been substantially met, and that there is factual basis for the issuance of the preliminary attachment.”

 

The SC held that the Sandiganbayan committed an error in ordering the cancellation of the notice written in the Transfer Certificate of Title of the property that was registered under the names of former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Ilocos Norte Gov. Maria Imelda Marcos and Irene Marcos - Araneta.

 

The Supreme Court also ordered the Register of Deeds of Cabuyao, Laguna to re-annotate the notice on the property's TCT.  

The mansion was among several Marcos rest houses turned over by the administration of the late former president Corazon Aquino under the care of the Department of Tourism in 1988. DMS