RP govt seeks acquittal for Imelda Marcos

RP govt seeks acquittal for Imelda Marcos

MANILA (Reuters): The Philippine government, in a dramatic
turnaround, said yesterday it had urged the Supreme Court to set
aside a 12-year jail term against former first lady Imelda Marcos
and acquit her of corruption charges.

Marcos's opponents immediately denounced the government
action, calling it a step towards the political rehabilitation of
a family whose rule became synonymous with plunder and mischief.

Solicitor General Romeo de la Cruz, in a paper filed with the
Supreme Court on Tuesday, recommended the jail term against the
widow of dictator Ferdinand Marcos be overturned.

The state's chief lawyer told Reuters an anti-graft court
ruling in 1993 convicting Imelda Marcos of graft was a mistake
but it was up to the Supreme Court to decide.

"The Office of the Solicitor General recommends that the
decision (convicting Marcos) be reconsidered and judgment be
rendered acquitting petitioner of the charge," de la Cruz said in
his 34-page recommendation.

The anti-graft court had found Marcos guilty of violating the
anti-graft and corrupt practices law for leasing state property
to a private foundation she headed under terms allegedly grossly
unfair to the government.

She struck the deal in 1984, two years before the Marcoses
were ousted in a popular revolt that forced them to flee in exile
to Hawaii, where the former president died three years later.
The Supreme Court in January upheld the 1993 ruling, prompting
Marcos to appeal.

The state in effect has now backed that appeal.

De la Cruz said the state recommendation would not affect the
outcome of scores of other graft cases which prosecutors had
filed against Marcos for allegedly helping her husband plunder
the economy.

Outgoing President Fidel Ramos, who steps down on June 30
after a six-year term and who has adopted a policy of
reconciliation with the Marcoses, angrily refused comment when
asked at his weekly news conference about the recommendation.

"I have no statement. I have no comment on that," Ramos said,
cutting off a reporter. "I have not seen it and I think this
requires my personal study. I have no comment."

De la Cruz conceded the recommendation was a turn-around in
the government stand.

The state action was the latest stroke of good fortune for the
Marcos family.

In last month's national election, a Marcos daughter won a
seat in Congress while a son was elected provincial governor.

A long-time Marcos ally, former movie actor Joseph Estrada,
was elected the country's president. Estrada immediately promised
he would allow Ferdinand Marcos's chemically preserved corpse to
be buried at Manila's Heroes Cemetery.

There was no immediate comment from Imelda Marcos. An aide
said she had gone to the cemetery to look for an appropriate
burial site for her husband.

"There's a big question mark now about meting justice on the
Marcoses," said leftist leader Satur Ocampo, one of thousands of
dissidents tortured by the military during the Marcos era.

"It looks like the political direction is re-accommodating the
Marcoses back to power and setting aside the grievances against
them for plundering the economy and violating human rights,"
Ocampo added.

Former solicitor general Frank Chavez, who prepared the graft
case against Imelda Marcos, was appalled by the state
recommendation and said he hoped the Supreme Court would stick to
its ruling upholding her conviction.

"It seems to me that they are inching their way back (to
power)," Chavez told Reuters. "The only problem in this country
is you are presumed guilty until you are proven influential.

"If she is eventually acquitted, then we lose everything. We
lose our right to attain vindication, we lose our right to obtain
justice and we lose the right to be ashamed of ourselves."