Manila Sues for Title to Marcos’ N.Y. Properties

The Philippine government filed suit Monday seeking title to five New York properties in the first court action by President Corazon Aquino’s administration to regain some of the billions in “hidden wealth” it says were amassed by ex-President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

The $750-million suit, including a request for $500 million in damages, represented the largest civil action in Philippine history and was filed in a special anti-corruption court by the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

Aquino set up the commission to get back an estimated $10 billion that the administration claims Marcos and his associates acquired through embezzlements, kickbacks and other fraudulent activities during Marcos’ 20 years as president.

Marcos fled into exile in Hawaii last February during a popular uprising that established Aquino as president.

Manhattan Buildings

In the suit, the commission asked that the government be named owner of four Manhattan office buildings and the Lindenmere estate in Long Island. The commission claims that Marcos secretly owns the estate and the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue, the Herald Center on the Avenue of the Americas, a 71-story building at 40 Wall St. and an office building at 200 Madison Ave.

Last month, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court order blocking the sale or transfer of the properties pending the outcome of legal action by the Aquino government.

The commission asked that Marcos, his wife Imelda and 19 other defendants pay a total of $500 million damages as a warning “to those who are unfaithful to the duties of their trust.”

‘First in Series’

The properties listed in the suit are valued at up to $350 million. There was no explanation as to why the commission gave the suit a total value of $750 million.

“This is the first in a series of suits by the Republic of the Philippines against defendants Ferdinand E. Marcos, Imelda Romualdez Marcos and others acting in concert or in conspiracy with them involving assets and properties they have unlawfully accumulated in various countries of the world,” the government brief said.

Commission Chairman Jovito Salonga said that the government will ask New York courts to enforce the judgment if it wins the case.

“Once we get that judgment, the next question is that if it is a final judgment, will it be enforced by the state of New York,” Salonga told reporters. “So our next suit in the state of New York will be for a motion . . . to enforce that judgment obtained from a Philippine court.”

Salonga said other legal moves to get back money from Marcos would be made in courts in the United States, the Philippines and Switzerland, where he said most of the money was stashed.

‘A Banner Year’

“Hopefully, the full information on the Swiss deposits should come in the next few months,” he said. “And if we get the first deliveries on the Marcos wealth there, 1987 should be a banner year for our exploited people.”

Ten other people and nine New York-based corporations are listed as co-defendants, accused of helping Marcos obtain the properties.