SANDIGANBAYAN JUNKS BID TO SUSPEND CASE ON TELCO FIRM SHARES

The Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division has junked the plea by alleged dummies of former President Ferdinand Marcos and wife Imelda to halt the trial of the civil reversion lawsuit involving 3,305 shares in the oldest telecommunication company in the country, Eastern Communications.

In a nine-page resolution, penned by Associate Justice Lorifel

Pahimna, the antigraft court said it was “not persuaded” by the defendants’ motion, filed in March, to suspend the trial of Civil Case No. 0178 because there was no order from the Supreme Court to stop the trial.

The case seeks to recover 3,305 shares of stock in Eastern Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (ETPI) under the names of Rosario Arellano, Victoria Legarda, Angela Lobregat, Benito Nieto, Carlos Nieto, Manuel Nieto III, Ma. Rita delos Reyes, Carmen Tuazon,

Ramon Nieto Jr. (standing as legal representative of deceased Ramon Nieto) and Benigno Manuel Valdes (legal representative of Rafael Valdes).

In their manifestation with motion for suspension, the defendants argued that they were unjustly impleaded in another case, Civil Case No. 0009, where the Sandiganbayan Third Division’s ordered them to return their ETPI shares to the government.

The defendants contended that since they had asked the

Supreme Court to review the decision on Civil Case No. 0009, the Fourth Division should also suspend the trial of Civil Case No. 0178.

But the Third Division ruled that the defendants sought an erroneous remedy in seeking the suspension of the trial and should have asked the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction from the high court, which would suspend the proceedings of Civil Case No. 0178.

“Thus, without any temporary restraining order or writ of preliminary injunction from the Supreme Court ordering this court to suspend the proceeding in this case, we do not have any other option but to deny the motion for suspension on account of pendency of the petition for review,” said the resolution by Pahimna, concurred in by Associate Justices Georgina Hidalgo and Alex Quiroz, the division’s chair.

The Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division also pointed out that it is “imperative” for them to push through with the trial or they will be subject to “administrative liability.”

Eastern Communication, now owned by PLDT and Globe Telecom, was founded in 1878 and laid the first submarine cable linking the Philippines and Hong Kong.

In the 1970s, the company was acquired by Marcos cronies Jose Africa, Manuel Nieto Jr. and Roberto Benedicto, but their shares were sequestered in 1987.