Thursday, August 23, 2007 Bongbong presents more 'proof' in Tan case
ILOCOS Norte Representative Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. presented before the Sandiganbayan on Wednesday photocopies of at least three letters signed by the businessman addressed to the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
At the continuation of his direct examination by government lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr., the Marcos scion identified the marginal notes appearing on those letters as his father's handwriting.
However, the contents of Tan's correspondences and four other letters, two of which were signed by Chairman Federico Moreno of the Philippine Virginia Tobacco Administration, as well as the marginal notes therein remained unknown because Marcos Jr. was not able to finish his testimony on Wednesday.
The lawmaker's testimony was cut short as he had to attend a caucus of the minority bloc of the House of Representatives where he is a member.
Because of this, the anti-graft court's Fifth Division led by Associate Justice Ma. Cristina Cortez Estrada had to reset the hearing to October and also to give the Marcos Jr. a chance to present the original copies of the documents.
Marcos Jr. told the court on Tuesday that the originals are still with the United States Customs Service but he has been told by his American lawyer that the documents will be turned over to them by October of this year after these had been classified.
Defense lawyers led by former Justice Minister Estelito Mendoza have expressed disappointment over the early suspension of the proceedings.
"It appears that the minority caucus is more important for the witness than the court proceedings of a case now pending for more than 20 years," Mendoza manifested.
Mendoza and the counsels for other defendants in Civil Case 005 even tried to seek a ruling from the court warning Marcos Jr. and the government that the original document will no longer be accepted if they are not presented in October.
Justice Estrada however told the defense that the court "will rule on that when the (original) documents are not available."
The court scheduled the next hearings on October 15, 16 and 18, and November 20, 22 and 29.
Among the documents presented by Marcos Jr. on Wednesday were Tan's three letters to Marcos Sr. with the letterhead of Allied Banking Corp. and all had the marginal notes of the late President.
The government earlier claimed that Tan was among the Marcos cronies who could get letters of instructions from the former Chief Executive for their joint benefit.
Generillo said they would present more letters bearing Marcos' marginal notes and signature at the next hearings.
The letters were among the many documents that the former President's personal secretary, Fe Roa Gimenez, took when she and the Marcoses flied to Hawaii in February 1986 as a civil-military revolt threatened to overrun Malacañang.
The US Customs Service seized the documents from the Marcos party when they landed at Honolulu's Hickham Air Force Base.
Marcos Jr. was made to certify his father's handwriting and signatures that appeared on the seven letters he presented on Wednesday.
While he said the marginal notes on most of the letters could be his father's handwriting, some of the signatures, he said, were "different from the one I would normally see."
People close to Marcos claimed the late President had two kinds of signature - the short one consisting of his initials and the longer version that appeared on the peso bills during his regime.
Generillo said the signatures that appeared together with the marginal notes could be the shorter version of the former President's signature, to which his son was not familiar with.
Earlier in the hearing, Marcos Jr. recalled that he and Tan planned to visit the other companies owned by the businessman and his father.
"We had planned to visit the plant of Foremost Farms but the schedule was not arranged following the events of February 1986 when the government fell and we were removed by the Americans, the US Government. I think everybody remembers that," Marcos said.
Last Tuesday, Marcos gave details on 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 Corporation, Asia Brewery Inc., Allied Banking Corporation, Foremost Farms, Himmel Industries Inc., Grandspan Development Corporation, Silangan Holdings Inc., Dominium Realty and Construction Corporation, and Shareholdings Inc.
Marcos Jr. claimed that his father owned 60 percent in each of the corporations and Tan knows this. (Sunnex)
