Imelda convicted of graft, gets 77 years
The Sandiganbayan has sentenced Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, widow of ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, up to 77 years of imprisonment after she was found guilty of seven counts of graft.
The Fifth Division of the anti-graft court also ordered the immediate arrest of Marcos. She was likewise directed by the court to explain her absence during the promulgation of judgment yesterday.
The court has found enough evidence to prove that Marcos is guilty of the seven counts of graft for holding financial interests in private sector while in public office. The antigraft court meted her six years and one month to 11 years imprisonment for each count or a total of 42 years and seven months as minimum to 77 years as maximum.
She was, however, acquitted in three counts of graft in connection to the use of her Cabinet position to maintain Swiss bank accounts during the regime of her late husband.
Assistant special prosecutor Rey Quilala clarified that Marcos may still file a motion for reconsideration as her conviction is not yet final. This means that the arrest order against her may still be lifted.
Malacañang said the anti-graft court decision proves that the executive branch does not meddle in the affairs of the judiciary.
“The Executive Branch is not in the business of exerting undue interference or influence in the affairs of another separate and independent branch of the government,” the Palace said.
“As such, we manifest our respect to the decision of the Sandiganbayan,” it stressed, adding that Marcos’ conviction underscores that the country has a “working and impartial justice.”
“We treat this decision by the anti-graft court as a good reminder to all public servants that public office is a public trust and that we are all accountable to the people we serve,” the Palace continued.
The charges against Marcos stemmed from her alleged illicit financial dealings with Switzerlandbased foundations during the regime of her husband. She was the minister of human settlements from 1976 to 1986 and concurrent Metro Manila governor from 1978 to 1984.
The Marcos patriarch, whose presidency was tainted by human rights abuses and massive corruption, was ousted in the 1986 "People Power" revolution.
Despite the death of the strongman while in exile in Hawaii in 1989, his family has been making a steady political comeback, with his only son and namesake eyeing a return to Malacañang as Philippine president.
In the Marcos family’s two-decade rule, it was the convicted ex-first lady’s lavish lifestyle and collection of designer shoes and jewelry that etched the couple’s extravagance in the collective memory of the Philippines, where the poor accounts for nearly a quarter of the country's 105 million population.
In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte, an ally of the Marcoses, granted the political clan’s longstanding wish to bury the late dictator’s remains at the Heroes' Cemetery.—