Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Marcos owns over half of Lucio Tan's 9 firms: son
THE late President Ferdinand Marcos owned 60 percent in each of the nine corporations held by tycoon Lucio Tan, said Ilocos Norte Representative Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.
The lawmaker testified for the government during Tuesday's ill-gotten wealth trial of Tan before the Sandiganbayan.
On direct examination by government lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr., Congressman Marcos detailed the meetings he had with Tan about his father's business interests in nine companies currently controlled by the billionaire businessman.
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.
Marcos Jr. said it was in the early 1970s when he first met Tan, whom he said, was often summoned to Malacañang by his father.
"There was this area in the Palace called the study room where he (Tan) had close meetings with my father," he said. He said the study room is located next to the former President's office.
"Several times after we were introduced, we say hello and greet each other when we see each other. On couple of occasions, we had more substantive conversations," Marcos Jr. said.
Marcos Jr. recalled how his father summoned him to his office where he saw Tan in deep discussion with the late strongman.
"My father said he wanted me to familiarize myself with the operations in some enterprises we had interests in. He said Mr. Tan will help me familiarize in the operations," he said.
That meeting, Bongbong added, was only the start of a "larger effort" of his father to conduct legal audit of the businesses he had.
"Imee (Bongbong's eldest sister), who had legal training, did legal inventory. I was given the job to go to as many enterprises as I could to meet the people running the business. I think what he (the former President) had in mind was to have us take over eventually," Marcos Jr. said.
"At the time he was quite strong but he was starting to feel the effects of his kidney disease," he added.
After that meeting in Malacañang, Marcos Jr. said he and his sister, Ma. Imelda "Imee" Marcos, had a meeting with Tan but he failed to state the venue where the businessman "showed us some documents like deeds of assignment and titles to some properties."
"He (Tan) tried to give us a sketch of how the structures (of the companies) work," he continued.
Then, Marcos Jr. said Tan "instructed us to go out and make sure that documentations are well in place."
When asked by Generillo if he had copies of the documents that would prove his claim that his father owned more than half of Tan's business empire, Marcos Jr. replied: "We have copies of some of them but the originals were not with us. They are with the US Customs."
"When we arrived in Hawaii (following his father's ouster in 1986) everything we have were confiscated. All our properties were seized by the US Customs," he furthered.
The testimony of Marcos Jr. was momentarily interrupted after defense lawyers led by former justice minister Estelito Mendoza questioned the propriety of presenting the documents considering that they were all photocopies and therefore are inadmissible as evidence.
This prompted the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division to order Generillo to go to another point in the absence of the original copies of the documents.
"Under the Rules of Evidence, in case of objection you must present the originals or establish secondary evidence," said Associate Justice Ma. Cristina Cortez-Estrada, chairwoman of the Fifth Division.
Marcos Jr. later explained that the originals are still with the US Customs Service but said his American lawyer told him that the documents will be turned over to them by mid-October of this year. (Sunnex)
