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SC junks ill-gotten wealth cases vs. late Marcos crony Danding Cojuangco

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Mike Navallo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt=" Nationalist People" s="" Coalition="" chairman="" emeritus="" Ambassador="" Eduardo="" danding="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/business/06/17/20090513-eduardo-cojuangco-ds-5047.jpg"/><figcaption>Nationalist People&#x27;s Coalition chairman emeritus Ambassador Eduardo &quot;Danding&quot; Cojuangco speaks during the oathtaking of Tarlac provincial officials at the Bulwagan Kanlahi, Diwa ng Tarlac in Tarlac City on June 28, 2019. Dax Simbol, ABS-CBN News/File</figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA— The Supreme Court has dismissed 6 civil cases for the recovery of ill-gotten wealth against the late Marcos crony Eduardo &quot;Danding&quot; Cojuangco, Jr. due to violation of his rights to due process and speedy disposition of cases. </p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">CORRECTED: SC has dismissed 6 civil cases for recovery of ill-gotten wealth vs Marcos crony Eduardo &quot;Danding&quot; Cojuangco, Jr. due to violation of rights to due process and speedy disposition of cases. It also barred Sandiganbayan from taking further prooceedings. <a href="https://t.co/4m9DM7XjrV">pic.twitter.com/4m9DM7XjrV</a></p>— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikenavallo/status/1458986374820884480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2021</a></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>It also barred the Sandiganbayan from taking further prooceedings in these cases.</p><p>The cases, originally filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in July 1987, involved the creation of companies, purchases and disbursements out of the coco levy funds as well as the acquisition of a cola company and behest loans and contracts.</p><p>Cojuangco, who <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/06/17/20/tycoon-and-kingmaker-danding-cojuangco-dies">died </a>in June 2020, accused the anti-graft court of allowing the cases to remain pending for 32 years.</p><p>The cases never reached the trial stage. </p><p>The Sandiganbayan resolved various motions from the PCGG from 2008 to 2017 and from Cojuangco from 2014 to 2017. </p><p>But it did not act on PCGG&#x27;s motion to calendar the cases in February 2018.</p><p>The Supreme court faulted Sandiganbayan for the &quot;inordinate delay&quot; in hearing the cases— a violation of Cojuangco’s right to speedy disposition of cases.</p><p>“[T]he fact that 32 years has elapsed from the time of the filing of the original complaint and 24 years from the subdivision thereof without trial proper being commenced, on its face, constitutes delay by any reasonable standard,” it said. </p><p>“Needless to say, the delay is beyond the time periods provided in any of the rules applicable to the Sandiganbayan at any given point in time since the termination of the pre-trial hearings. Thus, the burden of proof that there was no violation of the right to speedy disposition of cases clearly lies with the Republic,” it added.</p><p>The high court looked into some of the justifications cited in the Sandiganbayan resolutions including the supposedly dilatory motions filed by Cojuangco, complex issues and voluminous records of the case but was unconvinced.</p><p>It noted that the anti-graft court has the “intolerable habit” of delaying the resolution of simple motions from months to years when it could have resolved them immediately to proceed to trial.</p><p>It also rejected the excuse of “judicial courtesy”— suspending proceedings while supposedly waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on petitions questioning the anti-graft court’s orders. The SC said this is more of the exception than the general rule.</p><p>The Supreme Court also pointed out the resulting prejudice on the part of Cojuangco.</p><p>“At this point, the Court recognizes that the inaction of the Sandiganbayan for more than 30 years has placed petitioner at a disadvantage in fully preparing and presenting his case,&quot; it said.</p><p>&quot;For the subject cases to proceed to trial at this point in time would certainly result [in] a very tilted judicial system against petitioner and would skew the fairness in hearing the subject matter of the cases, and in the course thereof, petitioner would be deprived of his right to property without due process,” it added.</p><p>“Moreover, at the time of the filing of the instant petition, the health condition of petitioner has already deteriorated. In fact, he has passed away before the petition [was] resolved. That he is not in the position to defend himself now or that his defense has been greatly prejudiced by the delay or passage of time is very obvious.”</p><p>The SC Third Division ruling was penned by now-retired Associate Justice Eduardo delos Santos and concurred in by Justices Marvic Leonen, Ramon Paul Hernando, Henri Jean Paul Inting and Jhosep Lopez. </p><p>It was promulgated on April 28 but was uploaded on the Supreme Court website only yesterday.</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1827968" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

The Supreme Court has dismissed 6 civil cases for the recovery of ill-gotten wealth against the late Marcos crony Eduardo 'Danding' Cojuangco, Jr..

SC junks ill-gotten wealth cases vs. late Marcos crony Danding Cojuangco

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SC junks ill-gotten wealth cases vs. late Marcos crony Danding Cojuangco

Mike Navallo,

ABS-CBN News

Published November 12, 2021 03:00 PM PHT

Read More:

Danding Cojuangco

Eduardo Danding Cojuangco

Marcos crony

ill-gotten wealth

Ferdinand Mracos

Supreme Court

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