By EDMER F. PANESA
[ Manila Bulletin Online ] November 29, 2008
The Sandiganbayan has rejected anew the claim of the Marcos family over the 18.4-hectare prime property in Pasig City that was turned over to the government in 1986 by a crony of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
In an 18-page resolution promulgated last October 31, the anti-graft court’s First Division threw out the motion of Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to intervene in the civil suit filed by businessman Ricardo Silverio and the Ortigas and Co. Limited Partnership (OCLP) against the Presidential Commission in Good Government (PCGG).
Silverio’s lawsuit was docketed as Civil Case 0093 while the OCLP complaint was docketed as Civil Case 0147.
The division, chaired by Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, held that Bongbong’s motion was a mere duplicate of an earlier complaint filed by his mother, former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos, on Aug. 29, 1996.
That complaint by Mrs. Marcos was dismissed by the anti-graft court’s Third Division on May 26, 1998.
On April 21, 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the Sandiganbayan decision and dismissed the appeal of the former First Lady.
Pursuant to these previous Sandiganbayan and High Court rulings, Justice Peralta’s division declared that the complaint-in-intervention of Bongbong is now barred by "res judicata," a common law doctrine meant to bar re-litigation of a matter that has already been ruled upon by the courts with finality on a judgment on merits.
"A close study of the reliefs sought in the complaint filed by Imelda Marcos (Civil Case No. 0168) would reveal that they are similar the reliefs sought by Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in the present complaint-in-intervention. Although the modes used are different, there is no mistaking the common result sought," the court pointed out.
