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Court orders Royal Traders to pay P367 million after deposits deemed Marcos' ill-gotten wealth

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The Sandiganbayan has ordered the Royal Traders Holding Company, Incorporated (RTHCI) to pay the Philippine government at least P367 million, saying the amount was part of the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family.

In a 52-page decision, the anti-graft court also ordered the payment of 12% interest per year since February 1993 until the amount was fully ρáíd.

The Sandiganbayan said bank certificates on the deposits amounting to P65,978,870, P30,050,000 and US $5,435,362.90, were among the properties and papers brought into Hawaii by the Marcos family and seized by the United States Customs when they landed in Honolulu on February 26, 1986.

“Mr. Marcos and his family, among others, flew to Honolulu, Hawaii. They brought with the numerous crates of boxes, suitcases, bags, etc. containing jewelry, money, documents and other properties,” the court said in its decision.

The deposits were received from Marcos by RTHCI, then known as Traders Royal Bank (TRB), during its operations from 1974 to 1979.

“Even where the plaintiff (Philippine government) must allege non-payment, the general rule is that the burden rests on the defendant (TRB) to prove payment, rather than on the plaintiff to prove payment,” the decision read.

“As it is, TRB remains liable for the payment of the face value of the peso as well as dollar denominated bank certificate in question,” it added.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the government agency tasked to go after ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family, petitioned the US government for the return of such Marcos assets.

This resulted in an interpleader litigation involving another claimant, Roger Roxas, the Golden Buddha Corporation, and the Marcoses.

By December 1992, the US District Court of the District of Hawaii declared that Marcos’ wife, Imelda, had assigned her personal interest on the assets subject of the litigation, as well as the interest of the estate of her late husband, to the Philippine government in her capacity as “executor of the estate of Ferdinand Marcos.”

In exchange, the Philippine government agreed to dismiss other legal actions against the Marcos family, including the Marcoses being dropped as one of the parties in the interpleader action.

The TRB, however, refused to pay the Philippine government when the PCGG collected the abovementioned amounts from it back in February 26, 1993.

The original complaint against TRB was filed by the Philippine government in November 1997 and was amended in January 2005 to include RTHCI and Bank of Commerce.

The complaint was amended because TRB’s Articles of Incorporation was amended in October 2000 changing its name to RTHCI.

In addition, TRB and Bank of Commerce also entered a Purchase of Sale Agreement in November 2001 wherein the Bank of Commerce purchased assets and liabilities of TRB. -NB, GMA News

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