The Sandiganbayan has ordered the return of at least P3.5 billion worth of Philippine International Commercial Bank (PCIBank, now Banco de Oro) shares to the late Benjamin Romualdez, brother of former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
In a 12-page ruling, the anti-graft court said the shares, which it earlier ordered deposited in escrow at the Land Bank of the Philippines, should immediately be returned to the estate of the late Leyte governor and former ambassador to Washington.
The ruling, dated May 16, involves Civil Case 0035 filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which sequestered the assets in 1986.
The shares were under the name of Trans Middle East Phils. Equities Inc. (TMEPEI), a company owned by Romualdez.
In 2022, however, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that the shares were wrongfully sequestered and should be returned to Romualdez.
Instead of releasing the shares then, the Sandiganbayan ordered them deposited in escrow “for the persons, natural or juridical, who shall eventually be adjudged lawfully entitled thereto” at Land Bank.
Civil Case 0035 alleged that Romualdez forcefully acquired 6,299,177 PCIBank shares by leveraging his ties to his sister Imelda and his brother-in-law, then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., listing his firm TMEPEI and Edilberto Narciso, Jr. as “dummy buyers.”
In July 2022, the SC ruled that the Sandiganbayan committed grave abuse of discretion in its 2003 decision, which declared the sequestration order null and void but still directed that the assets be deposited in escrow. The High Court’s decision became final and executory on October 4, 2023.
