A MANILA court dismissed the petition for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) filed by a known Marcos associate seeking to enjoin the government from freezing his bank accounts.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Rosalyn Mislos-Loja junked the plea of Don Ferry to restrain the PCGG and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from freezing his bank accounts, trust accounts, and money market placements.
“The court in an Omnibus Order said it could rule on the application of Ferry, an associate of former President Ferdinand Marcos and a defendant in an ill-gotten wealth case in the Sandiganbayan, for the issuance of the TRO due to lack of jurisdiction,” the PCGG said quoting the court’s ruling.
It also sustained the position of the government and earlier buttressed by Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling in PCGG vs Emmanuel Pena that regional trial courts and the Court of Appeals have no jurisdiction over the PCGG in the exercise of its powers.
The PCGG said that kind of authority is “lodged in the Sandiganbayan’s exclusive and original jurisdiction and therefore, all incidents, arising from, incidental to, or related to, such cases fall within the said court’s jurisdiction, subject to review on certiorari by the Supreme Court.”
In 1987, Ferry was one of the Marcos associates included in the PCGG complaint before the anti-graft court for the recovery of ill-gotten wealth.
The government in October 1991 moved to include the corporations in the suit, claiming that they were used to amass ill-gotten wealth.
Among these corporations are the Philippine Village Hotel, Philroad Construction Corp., Silahis International Hotel, Fantasia Filipina Resorts Inc., Monte Sol Development Corp., Olas del Mar Development Corp., Puerto Azul Beach and Country Club Inc., and Ternate Development Corp.
But in a ruling issued last July, the High Court upheld the Sandiganbayan’s dismissal of a complaint against him and other Marcos’ cronies, Modesto Enriquez, Trinidad Diaz-Enriquez, Rebecco Panlilio, Erlinda Enriquez-Panlilio, Leandro Enriquez, Roman Cruz Jr. and Gregorio Castillo. (AH/Sunnex)