By Jomar C. Canlas, Reporter
After 22 years of litigating Lucio Tan for getting rich allegedly on Marcos money, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) will finally present its evidence in its multibillion-peso lawsuit against the taipan. A manifestation before the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division dated April 28 and signed by the Commission’s legal department division chief Ma. Luisa. Narvadez stated that “the Office of the Solicitor General will be filing its Formal Offer of Evidence in Civil Case No. 0005, titled Republic of the Philippines vs. Lucio Tan et al. May we respectfully request for copies of all the Minutes in said case.â€
Under the rules of court, a formal offer of evidence shall be done only after the presentation of all testimonial evidence and is usually followed by a notice to the court that the party making the offer is resting its case.
The manifestation came as a surprise since government lawyers earlier insisted in court that they still have several important witnesses to put to the stand, including former First Lady Imelda Marcos, who is claiming that her family rightfully owns some 60 percent of several Tan-controlled companies.
The companies are Fortune Tobacco Corp., Asia Brewery Inc., Allied Banking Corp., Foremost Farms, Himmel Industries Inc., Grandspan Development Corp., Silangan Holdings Inc., Dominium Realty & Construction Corp., and Shareholdings Inc.
Originally, the complaint in Civil Case 0005 was lodged by the Commission at the Sandiganbayan in July 1987. The complaint was amended twice by government lawyers, on September 5, 1991.
Named in the lawsuit were the Marcos estate, Imelda Marcos, former central bank Governor Gregorio Licaros and the late Philippine National Bank President Panfilo DomiÂngo, among others.
The Philippines is seeking an award of P50 billion in damages and P1 billion for legal expenses against the defendants. Tan was also included in the case after Imelda Marcos stated that Tan’s assets are from the Marcoses.
But the former First Lady has not shown up at the Sandiganbayan for her expected testimony against the beer and tobacco magnate.
The Marcoses claimed they owned the 60 percent of the corporations of Tan. But both the Philippine government and the MarÂcoses cannot produce the originals of the documents supposedly proving that business Tan acted as dummy for the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
Among the witnesses presented by the Commission on August 21, 2007, against Tan were former Senate President Jovito Salonga and Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong†Marcos of Ilocos Norte. Five letters of Tan with the letter head of Asia Brewery Corp. and Allied Bank Corp. to then President Ferdinand Marcos were also presented. The contents of the letters were not disclosed as the Commission merely sought to establish a connection between Tan and Marcos during the ‘70s.
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