Philippine Government Sues Marcos Family for $22 Billion

The government sued deposed President Ferdinand E. Marcos and members of his family Thursday for more than $22 billion, saying they plundered the treasury, betrayed the public trust and brazenly abused power.

Marcos was driven out of the country he ruled for nearly two decades on Feb. 26, 1986, by a military-civilian uprising that elevated Corazon Aquino to the Philippine presidency. He and his wife, Imelda, now live in Hawaii.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government filed the civil suit in a special anti-graft court. Aquino appointed the commission and gave it the mission of finding the fortune Marcos is accused of stealing.

According to the civil court papers, that fortune is “conservatively” estimated at $10 billion. The suit asks the court to make Marcos return that sum, pay $12.5 billion in actual, moral and exemplary damages, and reimburse the commission for $12.5 million it spent in tracking his wealth.

Property in U.S.

Listed among items the government seeks to recover are property in the United States worth $175 million, $390 million in bank deposits and other investments in America and elsewhere, and $10 million in jewelry and cash held by the U.S. Customs Agency. The government also wants the return of paintings by masters including Michelangelo, Gauguin, El Greco, Goya, Manet, Renoir and Picasso.

Domestic assets listed include $84 million in two bank accounts, shares in various corporations worth $83 million and jewelry and real estate valued at $15 million.

Also named as defendants are Imelda Marcos; the couples’ children Ferdinand Jr., Imee Marcos Manotoc and Irene Marcos Araneta, and sons-in-law Tomas Manotoc and Gregorio Araneta. The Marcos children also live abroad, but their whereabouts are not known.

Commission chairman Ramon Diaz said the government also will file civil actions against about 40 people associated with Marcos.

Plunder and Extortion

In the suit, Marcos is accused of “misappropriation and theft of public funds, plunder of the nation’s wealth, extortion, blackmail, bribery, embezzlement and other acts of corruption, betrayal of public trust and brazen abuse of power.”

“As a result of defendants’ unlawful, malicious, immoral and wanton acts . . . the Filipino people painfully endured and suffered moral damages for more than 20 long years, anguish, fright, sleepless nights, serious anxiety, wounded feelings and moral shock, as well as besmirched reputation and social humiliation before the international community,” the suit says.