MANILA, Philippines—The Sandiganbayan has shut the door to any testimony by businessman Mariano Tanenglian against his brother, taipan Lucio Tan, in a 22-year-old forfeiture case filed by the government.
In a resolution issued last Friday, the anti-graft court’s fifth division denied all three motions Tanenglian filed last year asking to be allowed to testify in the case against his elder brother.
Two weeks ago the same court junked efforts by a private lawyer to present evidence in the government’s case which would have paved the way for Tanenglian to testify.
The government is seeking to prove that Tan’s assets form part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family, the heirs of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos and Tan were supposedly partners in business ventures that Tan successfully grew to multibillion-peso enterprises today.
Tan has denied the allegation, while the Marcoses are trying to get what they claim is their share of the enterprises. The government wants to seize all the assets.
Tanenglian is also a defendant in the case against his brother but after they had a falling-out he offered to turn state’s evidence in exchange for immunity.
In a manifestation he filed in September last year, Tanenglian asked the Sandiganbayan to direct the Presidential Commission on Good Government to rule on his long-pending offer to become a government witness and to order the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to furnish him copies of their resolution junking his offer to testify.
The Sandiganbayan dismissed all of his motions.
First, the court said, it was “without jurisdiction to direct the PCGG to act on, much less accept, the offer of defendant Tanenglian to be a witness.”
Second, the court ruled that since Tanenglian was also a defendant in the case, it was “absurd” of him, instead of the government, to ask for the reopening of the trial.
Instead, the court again faulted the prosecution for failing to present all its witnesses despite being given every chance to do so.
“The plaintiff had been given several chances and sufficient time to present its evidence. However, from the start of the presentation of its evidence, it has repeatedly requested for postponements and cancellations of hearings due to lack of witnesses, aside from other reasons,” the court said.
Source:
Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer (Posted March 2, 2010)
Retrieved from
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100302-256218/Court-rules-brother-cant-testify-vs-Tan
In a resolution issued last Friday, the anti-graft court’s fifth division denied all three motions Tanenglian filed last year asking to be allowed to testify in the case against his elder brother.
Two weeks ago the same court junked efforts by a private lawyer to present evidence in the government’s case which would have paved the way for Tanenglian to testify.
The government is seeking to prove that Tan’s assets form part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family, the heirs of the late President Ferdinand Marcos. Marcos and Tan were supposedly partners in business ventures that Tan successfully grew to multibillion-peso enterprises today.
Tan has denied the allegation, while the Marcoses are trying to get what they claim is their share of the enterprises. The government wants to seize all the assets.
Tanenglian is also a defendant in the case against his brother but after they had a falling-out he offered to turn state’s evidence in exchange for immunity.
In a manifestation he filed in September last year, Tanenglian asked the Sandiganbayan to direct the Presidential Commission on Good Government to rule on his long-pending offer to become a government witness and to order the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to furnish him copies of their resolution junking his offer to testify.
The Sandiganbayan dismissed all of his motions.
First, the court said, it was “without jurisdiction to direct the PCGG to act on, much less accept, the offer of defendant Tanenglian to be a witness.”
Second, the court ruled that since Tanenglian was also a defendant in the case, it was “absurd” of him, instead of the government, to ask for the reopening of the trial.
Instead, the court again faulted the prosecution for failing to present all its witnesses despite being given every chance to do so.
“The plaintiff had been given several chances and sufficient time to present its evidence. However, from the start of the presentation of its evidence, it has repeatedly requested for postponements and cancellations of hearings due to lack of witnesses, aside from other reasons,” the court said.
Source:
Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer (Posted March 2, 2010)
Retrieved from
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100302-256218/Court-rules-brother-cant-testify-vs-Tan
