GUILTY. Former first lady Imelda Marcos is found guilty of 7 counts of graft for creating private organizations in Switzerland while she was a government official from 1968 to 1986. File photo by Rob Reyes/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan convicted Ilocos Norte 2nd District Representative Imelda Marcos of 7 counts of graft related to private organizations created in Switzerland while she was a government official from 1968 to 1986.

"Wherefore, premises considered, this Court finds the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt...," said the 5th Division Clerk of Court while reading the verdict on Friday, November 9.

Neither Marcos nor any of her lawyers were present during the promulgation of decision.

The 89-year-old Marcos was sentenced to prison for 6 years and 1 month to 11 years for each case. She is also perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

By the end of the hearing, 5th Division Chairman Associate Justice Rafael Lagos also ordered the issuance of a warrant of arrest against Marcos.

But the Ombudsman lead prosecutor, as well as the 5th Division, clarified that because graft is a bailable case, she can have provisional liberty while she is appealing the conviction. Upon payment of bonds, the warrants of arrest will be lifted.

Lead prosecutor Rey Quilala said the ballpark figure of the public money involved in the private organizations amounts to US$200 million.

"It involves 7 Swiss foundations, tapos kinu-close 'yung ibang foundation, ita-transfer sa ibang foundation, and then close it again, transfer sa ibang foundation, na-trace po yung flow ng pera," said Quilala.

(It involves 7 Swiss foundations, then they close the foundations, then they transfer it to another foundation, and then close it again, transfer to another foundation, so we traced the flow of the money.)

Marcos was acquitted for the remaining 3 counts involving local corporations based in the Philippines. The charges were filed way back 1991.

The 3 counts where she was acquitted involved foundations based in the Philippines.

"Sa local corporation kasi may isang corporation na gina-guarantee ng Pilipinas 'yung loan ng $25 million and then hindi na pinabayaran. Pilipinas ang nag-guarantee. 'Yung local corporations po 'yun," Quilala said.

(There was one local coporation which guaranteed a loan of $25 million, and they were not asked to pay. The Philippines guaranteed it. Those are for the local corporations.)

"Victory pa rin po ito (This is still a victory)," said Quilala.

The justices who decided the case are Associate Justices Rafael Lagos, Maria Theresa Mendoza-Arcega and Maryann Corpus-Mañalac.

The guilty verdict gives a clear picture of the “entrepreneurial” scheme of the former first family.

This is Marcos' 2nd Sandiganbayan conviction. In 1993, the Court's First Division convicted her of two counts of graft over anomalous contracts involving a lease between the Light Rail Transit Authority and the Philippine General Hospital Foundation, Inc. But in 1998, the Supreme Court acquitted her.

According to the latest list of the Sandiganbayan's docket section, there is no remaining criminal case against Marcos. She was charged for 28 criminal cases – the last 10 of which were the ones decided on Friday, where she was convicted of 7 counts, and acquitted of 3.

There remain, however, civil cases mainly involving forfeiture. Quilala was not able to immediately confirm if the money involved in the Swiss foundations is also being recovered by the government in those civil cases. – Rappler.com</s>A Philippine court has found former first lady Imelda Marcos guilty of corruption. Photo: Reuters</s>Former First Lady and Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos has been found guilty of seven counts of graft by the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division.

According to a decision by the anti-graft court on Friday, Marcos is sentenced to imprisonment of from six years to one month, up to 11 years for each count. She is also perpetually disqualified from holding any public office.

The Sandigan also ordered the release of an arrest warrant of arrest against Marcos who did not attend the promulgation of the cases against her. She was given 30 days by the anti-graft court to explain her absence.</s>Imelda Marcos was found guilty of corruption on Friday and ordered arrested in a rare conviction for the former Philippine first lady accused with her late dictator husband of embezzling billions of dollars from state coffers.

However, 89-year-old Marcos can appeal the ruling and post bail, which would allow her to remain free while the case grinds through the country's notoriously slow justice system.

The verdict from the anti-graft Sandiganbayan court orders her to serve a minimum of six years behind bars over charges the Marcoses funnelled roughly US$200 million (S$275.5 million) through Swiss foundations decades ago.

Ferdinand Marcos, who along with cronies was accused of pilfering $10 billion from the Philippines, fled with his family to the US after a people's uprising ended his 20-year rule in 1986.

Marcos died in 1989 while still in exile. But his heirs later returned to Manila and have since staged a political comeback. Imelda Marcos is currently a congresswoman.

As a government official in the Marcos administration, Imelda was barred by law from having any financial interest from the Swiss foundations, said the ruling.

"The couple opened all those accounts in Switzerland, and they used pseudonyms to hide their ownership. The president chose William Saunders and Imelda Marcos used Jane Ryan," special prosecutor Ryan Quilala told reporters.

Her lawyers could not be reached, while a press aide told AFP there was no immediate comment.

Court officials said Marcos would be able to avoid incarceration by posting an as yet undetermined bail and has the right to appeal her conviction to the nation's highest legal authority, the Supreme Court.

The body has previously undone a case against Imelda, overturning a 24 year jail sentence in 1993 on graft charges. She ran for congress and won while her appeal was underway.

The family's notoriety stems back to Ferdinand Marcos declaring martial law in 1972. That allowed him to shutter the legislature, muzzle the free press and jail or kill those who dared to oppose his dictatorship.

In the decades since Marcos's ouster the effort to recover the pilfered money has been halting and uneven.

However, the Philippine Supreme Court in 2003 ordered US$680 million in funds stashed by the Marcoses in Swiss banks handed to the government.

The funds had earlier been turned over by the Swiss judiciary after concluding that the funds were stolen from the Manila government.

The younger generation of Marcoses have led high-profile careers, despite the dark past associated with their name.

Imelda and Ferdinand's daughter Imee Marcos, is the governor of the family's northern stronghold of Ilocos Norte province and helped bankroll the 2016 election campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte, according to him.

Imelda's son, also named Ferdinand, almost won the separate election for vice president that year.

He has put the count under protest and hopes to run for president after Duterte's term ends in mid-2022.</s>MANILA — The Sandiganbayan on Friday convicted former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte 2nd District Rep. Imelda Marcos of seven counts of graft due to her “financial interests and participation in the management of private foundations in Switzerland” when she served as a Cabinet official during her late husband’s term.

The anti-graft court also sentenced Marcos “to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of from six years and one month as minimum, up to 11 years as maximum for each count of the graft case filed against her.” She is also perpetually disqualified from holding any public post.

The Sandiganbayan, likewise, ordered her to explain why she was unable to attend the promulgation of the sentence as neither she nor her lawyers were present.

Assistant Special Prosecutor Ryan Quilala said the former First Lady would not be automatically imprisoned as she can still file an appeal before the Supreme Court.

The promulgation of the sentence took so long because majority of the witnesses are already dead, Quilala added.

The Sandiganbayan 5th Division said Marcos is “guilty beyond reasonable doubt in seven counts of violation of Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the ‘Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act”.

The Sandiganbayan added that the prosecution has proven that she has “financial interest” in some private enterprises, in violation of RA 3019.

In the case information filed in 1991, Marcos was charged with 10 counts of graft for her alleged interests and participation in the management of some private foundations in Switzerland from 1978 to 1984.

The questionable foundations were the Vibur Foundation, Maler Establishment, Trinidad Foundation, Rayby Foundation, Palmy Foundation, Aguamina Foundation, and Avertina Foundation.

It was learned that Marcos, a former minister of Human Settlements, Metro Manila governor, and member of the Interim Batasan Pambansa, was prohibited by law to take part in such businesses.

The Office of the Ombudsman also accused the wife of the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos of depositing hidden wealth amounting to almost USD30 million in a Banque Paribas bank. PNA-northboundasia.com</s>MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine court found former first lady Imelda Marcos guilty of graft and ordered her arrest Friday in a rare conviction among many corruption cases that she plans to appeal to avoid jail and losing her seat in Congress.

The special anti-graft Sandiganbayan court sentenced Marcos, 89, to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the seven counts of violating an anti-corruption law when she illegally funneled about $200 million to Swiss foundations in the 1970s as Metropolitan Manila governor.

Neither Marcos nor anyone representing her attended Friday's court hearing.

Marcos said in a statement that the decision was being studied by one of her lawyers who notified the Marcos family that he intends to appeal the decision. Anti-Marcos activists and human rights victims welcomed the conviction as long overdue.

The court disqualified Marcos from holding public office, but she can remain a member of the powerful House of Representatives while appealing the decision. Her congressional term will end next year but she has registered to run to replace her daughter as governor of northern Ilocos Norte province.

"I was jumping up and down in joy in disbelief," said former Commission on Human Rights chairwoman Loretta Ann Rosales, who was among many activists locked up after Imelda's husband, former President Ferdinand Marcos, declared martial law in the Philippines in 1972.

Rosales said the decision was a huge setback to efforts by the Marcos family to revise history by denying many of the atrocities under the dictatorship, and urged Filipinos to fight all threats against democracy and civil liberties.

Former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., who was also jailed during the Marcos dictatorship, said it was up to voters in next year's May 13 local elections, where Marcos is a candidate, if they want "somebody who has a bad name representing them, that's your call."

Imelda Marcos' husband was ousted by an army-backed "people power" revolt in 1986. He died in self-exile in Hawaii in 1989 but his widow and children returned to the Philippines. Most have been elected to public offices in an impressive political comeback.

Government prosecutor Ryan Quilala told reporters that Marcos and her husband opened and managed Swiss foundations in violation of the Philippine Constitution, using aliases in a bid to hide stolen funds. The Marcoses have been accused of plundering the government's coffers amid crushing poverty. They have denied any wrongdoing and have successfully fought many other corruption cases.

Imelda Marcos was acquitted Friday in three other cases, which were filed in 1991 and took nearly three decades of trial by several judges and prosecutors. She was once convicted of a graft case in 1993, but the Supreme Court later cleared her of any wrongdoing.

President Rodrigo Duterte, an ally of the Marcoses, said last year the Marcos family had indicated a willingness to return a still-unspecified amount of money and "a few gold bars" to help ease budget deficits. He indicated the family still denied that the assets had been stolen as alleged by political opponents.

Ferdinand Marcos had placed the Philippines under martial rule a year before his term was to expire. He padlocked Congress, ordered the arrest of political rivals and left-wing activists and ruled by decree. His family is said to have amassed an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion while he was in power.

A Hawaii court found Marcos liable for human rights violations and awarded $2 billion from his estate to compensate more than 9,000 Filipinos who filed a lawsuit against him for torture, incarceration, extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

Duterte has acknowledged that Imee Marcos, the couple's daughter and a provincial governor, backed his presidential candidacy.</s>MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines’ anti-corruption court on Friday ordered the arrest of former first lady Imelda Marcos after finding her guilty on seven counts of graft during the two-decade rule of her husband and former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

But Marcos, 89, famous for a huge collection of shoes, jewelry and artwork, can avoid arrest and remain free if she appeals the decision and if denied, she can challenge it at the Supreme Court.

Marcos said in a statement her lawyer is “studying the decision and he has advised us that he intends to file a motion for reconsideration”.

The widow of the late dictator is facing dozens of protracted graft cases that have hounded her since her family was toppled in an army-backed popular uprising in 1986.

The court ordered Marcos, a congresswoman, to serve six to 11 years in jail for each of the seven counts of graft. She was charged for making seven bank transfers totaling $200 million to Swiss foundations during her term as Manila governor.

The court’s decision came nearly three decades after the case was filed.

Under the rules of the Sandiganbayan, the former first lady has 15 days from promulgation of the ruling to file an appeal, and the anti-graft court has 30 days within which to decide on it. Marcos may also go straight to Supreme Court to seek relief. She can also file an application for bail.

Marcos, a sitting three-term congresswoman, has registered as a candidate next May to succeed her daughter, Imee Marcos, 62, as governor of Ilocos Norte, the stronghold of the still powerful Marcos family.

Imee is running for the Philippine senate in 2019.

“I hope this ruling would serve as a crucial electoral guide to our voters this coming election”, opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said in a statement.

Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for two decades, placing the country under martial law in 1972, during which time thousands of opponents were jailed, killed or disappeared.

He was accused of amassing more than $10 billion while in office and died in exile in 1989.

President Rodrigo Duterte enjoys good ties with the Marcos family and has often praised the late strongman.

Duterte allowed Marcos’ embalmed body to be buried at a special heroes’ cemetery in 2016, and the president is often accompanied at official events by Imee Marcos.

Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said in a statement the ruling against Imelda Marcos was proof that the executive “is not in the business of exerting undue interference or influence” on courts, and therefore respects the decision.”</s>MANILA - The Philippines’ anti-corruption court on Friday ordered the arrest of former first lady Imelda Marcos after finding her guilty on seven counts of graft during the two-decade rule of her husband and former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.

Marcos, 89, famous for a huge collection of shoes, jewellery and artwork, is facing dozens of protracted graft cases that have hounded her since her family was toppled in an army-backed popular uprising in 1986.

The court ordered Marcos, a congresswoman, to serve six to 11 years in jail for each of the seven counts of graft. She was charged for making seven bank transfers totalling $200 million to Swiss foundations during her term as Manila governor.

Marcos and her representatives did not attend the legal hearing on Friday. She could not be reached for comment and text messages and phone calls to her lawyer were not answered.

The arrest warrant may not be executed immediately because Marcos can appeal the ruling by the Sandiganbayan court, a prosecutor said.

“She can elevate it to the Supreme Court if she sees grave abuse of discretion in the Sandiganbayan’s decision. So this is not yet final and executory,” assistant special prosecutor Ryan Quilala told reporters.

Marcos, who has served three terms as a member of congress, has registered to contest an election to succeed her daughter, Imee Marcos, 62, as governor of Ilocos Norte, the stronghold of the still powerful Marcos family.

Ferdinand Marcos ruled the Philippines for two decades, placing the country under martial law in 1972, during which time thousands of opponents were jailed, killed or disappeared.

He was accused of amassing more than $10 billion while in office and died in exile in 1989.

President Rodrigo Duterte enjoys good ties with the Marcos family and has often praised the late strongman.

Duterte allowed Marcos’ embalmed body to be buried at a special heroes’ cemetery in 2016, and the president is often accompanied at official events by Imee Marcos.

Duterte’s spokesperson, Salvador Panelo, said in a statement the ruling against Imelda Marcos was proof that the executive “is not in the business of exerting undue interference or influence” on courts, and therefore respects the decision.</s>MANILA — The camp of Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos is eyeing to file a motion for reconsideration on Sandiganbayan’s decision, finding her guilty of seven counts of graft.

In a statement on Friday, Marcos said she has received a copy of the anti-graft court’s decision, noting that her legal counsel is already studying the case.

“Unfortunately, my Attorney of Record, Atty. Robert Sison, has been indisposed and is presently confined at the Asian hospital,” Marcos said.

“Justice Lolong Lazaro, who has previously appeared as counsel in this case, will act as my counsel in the interim. He is presently studying the decision and has advised us that he intends to file a Motion for Reconsideration,” she added.

The Sandiganbayan Fifth Division found Marcos guilty beyond reasonable doubt of seven counts of graft due to her “financial interests and participation in the management of private foundations in Switzerland” when she served as a Cabinet official during her late husband’s term.

The anti-graft court also sentenced Marcos “to suffer the penalty of imprisonment of from six years and one month as minimum, up to 11 years as maximum for each count of the graft case filed against her.” She is also perpetually disqualified from holding any public post.

The Sandiganbayan also ordered her to explain why she was unable to attend the promulgation of the sentence as neither she nor her lawyers were present. (PNA-northboundasia.com</s>The Philippine anti-corruption court has ordered the arrest of Imelda Marcos after finding her guilty on seven counts of graft during the two-decade rule of her husband, the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The former first lady, 89, who is also famous for her huge collection of shoes, jewellery and artwork, has faced dozens of protracted graft cases since her family was toppled in an army-backed popular uprising in 1986.

The court ordered Marcos, a congresswoman, to serve six to 11 years in jail for each of the seven counts of graft. She was charged for making seven bank transfers totalling $200m (£154m) to Swiss foundations during her term as Manila governor.

Marcos and her representatives did not attend the legal hearing on Friday. She could not be reached for comment.

The arrest warrant might not be executed immediately because Marcos could appeal against the ruling, a prosecutor said.

“She can elevate it to the supreme court if she sees grave abuse of discretion in the Sandiganbayan [court]’s decision. So this is not yet final and executory,” the assistant special prosecutor, Ryan Quilala,said, adding that Marco could also file for an application for bail.

Under the rules of the Sandiganbayan, Marcos has 15 days from promulgation of the ruling to file an appeal, and the anti-graft court has 30 days within which to decide on it. She may also go straight to the supreme court to seek relief.

Marcos, who is serving her third consecutive term as a member of congress, has registered to contest an election to succeed her daughter, Imee Marcos, as governor of Ilocos Norte, the stronghold of the still-powerful Marcos family. Imee is running for the Philippine senate in 2019.

The opposition senator Risa Hontiveros said: “I hope this ruling would serve as a crucial electoral guide to our voters this coming election.”

Ferdinand Marcos placed the Philippines under martial law in 1972, during which time thousands of opponents were jailed, killed or disappeared. He was accused of amassing more than $10bn while in office and died in exile in 1989.

The current president, Rodrigo Duterte, has good ties with the Marcos family and has often praised Ferdinand Marcos. He allowed Marcos’s embalmed body to be buried at a special heroes’ cemetery in 2016, and the president is often accompanied at official events by Imee Marcos.

Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, said the ruling against Imelda Marcos was proof that the executive “is not in the business of exerting undue interference or influence on courts, and therefore respects the decision”.
Former Philippine First Lady and Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos has been convicted on seven counts of graft for transferring funds to private foundations in Switzerland and is sentenced to at least six years and one month imprisonment for each count.