Sandiganbayan to auction two aircraft in Marcos case

MANILA, Philippines – The Sandiganbayan ordered the sale of two aircraft recovered by the Philippine government from the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and alleged crony Alfonso Lim Sr.

In a resolution, the anti-graft court’s Special Second Division directed the Sandiganbayan Sheriff and Security Services Office to hold a public auction “the soonest possible time” for a 10-seater twin-engine Cessna Eagle II Model C-421 and a 6-seater single engine Cessna Centurion II Model T210.

The two aircraft, previously held at a hangar owned by Northern Resort Incorporated, were handed over to the government after a 28-year-old petition to recover “all funds and properties acquired” by the estate of Lim and his companies was finally granted in December 2015.

They were part of a list of assets sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) under Civil Case No. 0030 filed on July 30, 1987 against former President Ferdinand Marcos, his wife and now Ilocos Norte representative Imelda Marcos, former natural resources minister Teodoro Peña, Lim, and his son, Alfonso Jr.

The other properties listed in the complaint include:

• 16 parcels of land in Rizal, Batangas, Tagaytay City, Cagayan, and Paco, Manila
• Shares of stocks in several companies such as Sierra Madre Wood Industries and Western Cagayan Lumber
• Machineries and a sea vessel owned by Sierra Madre
• Cash assets and investments by Taggat and Pamplona Redwood
• Bank accounts of Pamplona Redwood with several banking institutions such as the Philippine National Bank and Allied Bank
• Frozen bank accounts and assets of the Lim father-and-son and Lawrence Lim

An appraisal conducted by PCGG Property Appraiser Steve Alcantara in 2006 found that the real properties alone were valued at P511.122 million ($10.9 million).

The entire value, however, is expected to go higher as the Sandiganbayan decision required defendants to surrender all incomes or increments of the illegally-amassed assets from date acquired to date of the decision.

Following the death of the former dictator in 1989, his wife and children were named substitute defendants.

In 2010, however, Lim Jr and the estate of his father “unequivocally and completely” waived and surrendered their claims to the assets to the Philippine government after wanting to be spared from the additional litigation expenses and inconvenience. – Rappler.com

$1 = P46