CASE DIGEST: REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES v. SANDIGANBAYAN (Fourth
Division) and IMELDA R. MARCOSFACTS: On February 28, 1986, immediately after assuming
power, President Corazon C. Aquino issued Executive Order 1, creating the
PCGG.She empowered the PCGG to recover all ill-gotten wealth allegedly amassed
by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, his family, and close associates
during his 20-year regime.
PCGG Commissioner Raul Daza gave lawyers Jose Tan Ramirez and Ben Abella PCGG
Region VIII Task Force Head and Co-Deputy, respectively, written authority to
sequester any property, documents, money, and other assets in Leyte, belonging
to former First Lady Imelda R. Marcos, Benjamin Romualdez, Alfredo Romualdez,
and their agents. On March 18, 1986, Attys. Ramirez and Abella issued a
sequestration order against the Marcoses Olot, Tolosa, Leyte property (lot
Resthouse).
On August 10, 2001, Mrs. Marcos filed a motion to quash the sequestration
order against the Olot Resthouse,claiming that such order, issued
only by Attys. Ramirez and Abella, was void for failing to observe Sec. 3
of the PCGG Rules and Regulations. The rules required the signatures of at
least two PCGG Commissioners. Mrs. Marcos filed a Supplement to her earlier
motion, claiming no prima facie evidence that
the Olot Resthouse constituted ill-gotten wealth.She pointed
out that the property is the ancestral home of her family. The Republic
countered that Mrs. Marcos was already stopped from questioning the order.
On February 28, 2002 the Sandiganbayan issued the assailed
Resolution, granting the motion to quash and ordering the full restoration of
the Olot Resthouse to Mrs. Marcos.
The Sandiganbayan ruled that the sequestration order was void
because it was signed, not by PCGG Commissioners, but by mere PCGG agents.
ISSUE: Is the March 18, 1986 sequestration order against
the Olot Resthouse, issued by PCGG agents before the enactment of
the PCGG rules, valid?