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."