MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., as administrator of his father’s estate, has lost his bid to take for his family parcels of the sprawling Paoay complex in Ilocos Norte, where the Malacañang of the North stands, as the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that it is ill-gotten wealth sourced from an unconstitutional lease by the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
“The land now in litigation, save for those validly covered by free patents, form part of the public dominion which properly belongs to the State….The December 20, 1978 Lease Contract between Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. and the Philippine Tourism Authority is void for being unconstitutional,” said the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, promulgated way back November 13 last year, but published only on Wednesday, September 4.
However, beginning 2000, Marcos’ sister, Senator Imee Marcos and his sons as well as other heirs were able to secure free patents for 58 out of the 150 parcels of land in the Paoay complex. While the Supreme Court said that the free patents had “glaring irregularities” because they were issued to the Marcoses even if they were part of a national park, it is out of their jurisdiction to resolve patent disputes.
The government can reverse those free patents, the Court said, if the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) files reversion proceedings. But the OSG cannot do so without approval from the President first, who is now Marcos — the very same person who wanted the properties for his family in the first place.
The SC suggested that “due to multifarious responsibilities of the president, it is neither practical or efficient” for Marcos to do it himself, and that he can delegate this power to the Land Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
This may be the first case that will test President Marcos on resolving an ill-gotten wealth case that involves his own family.
Why ill-gotten
The case covers 576,787 square meters of property in Barangay Suba in Paoay, where Malacañang of the North is, and the sprawling sports complex including a tennis court and a golf course.
In 1969, the dictator Marcos Sr. enacted a law that declared Paoay lake a national park. In 1978, however, Marcos Sr. enacted another law declaring certain parts of land surrounding Paoay lake disposable and open for acquisition.
Here is where the maneuverings happened. Shortly after in 1978, Marcos Sr. entered into a lease agreement with the then-called Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) — now Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA). In the lease agreement, Marcos would rent out the Paoay complex to PTA for a nominal fee of P1 per year for 25 years, ending in 2003. Under this lease agreement, PTA would shoulder the cost of developing the property.
Marcos Sr. did this even though “there is no showing that he owned the subject parcels of land upon execution of the 1978 Lease Contract,” said the Supreme Court. Even worse, the contract says that when the lease is done, the property and all the improvements done on it will be owned by Marcos Sr.
“Clearly, under these terms, the former President would profit enormously at the expense of the government. The 1978 Lease Contract was designed to unduly benefit President Marcos,” said the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) when it started trying to recover this property by filing a case with the Sandiganbayan, which it won in 2014.
“The two requisites that must be present for properties or assets to be considered ill-gotten wealth are: (a) their origin must be traced from the State; and (b) they were acquired by Marcos, Sr., his immediate family, relatives, and close associates by illegal means. Both elements are present here,” said the Supreme Court, adding that “Marcos Sr. abused his authority to enter into a lease contract.”
What BBM tried to do
Even before the supposed lease expired in 2003, the PCGG had already entered into a tripartite agreement with PTA/TIEZA and a sublessee, Grand Ilocandia. This agreement all acknowledged that the property was ill-gotten and should be recovered by the government.
“The improvements were built with government money, largely coming from collection of travel taxes,” said the SC.
Rappler has been trying to get from TIEZA details on how much the government profited from — or how much it spent on — the management of this property but the agency denied our Freedom of Information (FOI) requests twice, on March 20, and the appeal on May 8.
In 2005, two years after the lease expired, Marcos Jr., as the estate executor, demanded PTA/TIEZA to turn over the property to them. He also demanded the payment of rental fees. In 2007, he demanded PTA/TIEZA and Grand Ilocandia to vacate.
This prompted a string of litigation that saw a local court in Paoay favoring the Marcoses, but the Court of Appeals and the Sandiganbayan favored the PTA and the PCGG. In 2014, the Sandiganbayan declared the lease void, which is why the Marcos estate elevated the case to the Supreme Court. These were all before Marcos eventually became president in 2022.
In this latest decision, the SC said that the Marcos estate, represented by the President, “is a mere usurper of public property.”
“Petitioner cannot claim any right over the parcel of land or the improvements on the basis of the lease contract or free patent. Ultimately, the land now in litigation, save for those validly covered by free patents, form part of the public dominion which properly belongs to the State,” said the SC.
The free patents secured by Senator Imee Marcos and sons can be reversed, a proceeding which the SC said “is done when public land is fraudulently awarded and disposed of in favor of private individuals or corporations.”
What will the President do? – Rappler.com