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What else Ferdinand Marcos did on September 21, 1972
- 1. What else happened on September 21, 1972? -- From the April 2012 Supreme Court decision in Marcos versus Republic of the Philippines
- 2. Even before declaring Martial Law, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were already laundering money from corruption
- 3. The Marcoses opened Swiss bank accounts in March 1968
- 4. Who were the enablers of the dictatorship’s corruption? ❑ The generals who benefited financially from Martial Law ❑ The cronies who controlled monopolies ❑ The global North governments and corporations who benefited from the neoliberal economic policies of the dictatorship ❑ The World Bank and the IMF, who lent funds to the Marcos dictatorship knowing its human rights and corruption record ❑ Swiss and other banks who kept ill-gotten wealth
- 7. “It’s a miracle ... We must support it” – World Bank President Robert McNamara, on the Marcos dictatorship (1973)
- 8. Dictators and their bankers
- 9. Herminio Disini and the Bataan nuclear power plant bribery: Lessons from Civil Case 13
- 10. Herminio Disini: lessons from Civil Case 13
- 11. Arelma shows how the Marcoses committed corruption — and how Filipinos can still win against them ❑ On September 21, 1972, a Swiss banker named Jean Louis Sunier informed Marcos that he had created a dummy Panamanian corporation for Marcos called ‘Arelma’ ❑ Sunier opened a new bank account in Switzerland in the name of Arelma and deposited $2M in ill-gotten wealth from Marcos in that Swiss bank account ❑ He then transferred that money to another bank account in Merrill Lynch, a private bank in New York, in a bank account also under the name of Arelma.
- 12. Arelma shows how the Marcoses committed corruption — and how Filipinos can still win against them ❑ After the dictatorship fell, the PCGG asked the Swiss government to help find Marcos accounts based on documents found in Malacañang including the September 21 Sunier letter ❑ Switzerland found and froze several Swiss assets of the 14 known ‘entities’ created by Marcos Swiss bankers ❑ But one set of documents mentioned ‘Arelma’ for the first time.
- 13. Arelma shows how the Marcoses committed corruption — and how Filipinos can still win against them ❑ The PCGG went to Panama to take over Arelma and take possession of its ownership documents ❑ The PCGG asked Merrill Lynch to turn over Arelma’s assets ❑ Using the 2003 Supreme Court decision forfeiting all assets of the Marcoses exceeding their legitimate income as public officials, the PCGG obtained the 2012 Supreme Court ruling ❑ But the US government is supporting the PH claim to Arelma’s assets
- 14. The Arelma recovery shows what the needs and challenges are to win against the Marcoses ❑ An asset recovery commission such as the PCGG must be independent ❑ It must have competence in the fields of forensic accounting, banking, and PH history ❑ The Office of the Solicitor-General and the Special Prosecutor at the Sandiganbayan must rely on that competence ❑ But what about the claims of Marcos victims? The lesson learned is that justice in the form of reparation is most effective when delivered by the State officially. ❑ This is why I drafted what became the 2013 Marcos victims reparations law
- 15. The 2003 Supreme Court decision: All Marcos assets beyond their legal income is ill-gotten
- 16. Recovering $685M from Marcos Swiss accounts ❑ PCGG insisted to Switzerland that it should accept a civil case judgment instead of requiring a criminal conviction ❑ We worked with the then Solicitor-General and later Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo to move Civil Case 141 for forfeiture forward ❑ In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that the $685M in known Marcos assets in Switzerland is ill-gotten ❑ I led negotiations in Switzerland for the return of those funds
- 17. The dilemma: an official decision or a press release?
- 18. How to make the 2003 forfeiture ruling even stronger? Invoke it in all Marcos cases
- 19. What the Marcoses have to say
- 20. Cost of full immunization & vaccines for 20,000 children & 17,600 senior citizens and infants
- 21. Equal to the budget for two regional airports
- 22. Asset recovery linked to transitional justice
- 23. The $685M recovered funded $200M for reparations
- 24. How the 2013 Marcos dictatorship victims reparations law was implemented
- 25. And funded $10M for memorialization
- 27. After 2018 Imelda Marcos conviction, what happens next?
- 28. The long arm of the Marcoses ❑ In 1996, the PH Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of Imelda Marcos twice for corruption involving LRT property. ❑ After her 2nd motion for reconsideration was denied by an SC division, her lawyer asked the entire court to rule. ❑ Five years later, she was acquitted after the new Solicitor-General moved for her acquittal. Unusual? Yes, because the OSG isn’t involved in prosecuting criminal cases.
- 29. The long arm of the Marcoses “Solicitor General Romeo de la Cruz’s flip-flop is a reflection of the new power situation. If, as we understand it, he is one of the boys of former Solicitor General and Justice Minister Estelito Mendoza, the snicker or wink factor will be there. That passes for administration of justice in our benighted country.” -- Former Senator Rene Saguisag
- 30. Estelito Mendoza: Marcos “served the Philippines selflessly”
- 31. Never forget and yet …
- 32. ‘Made possible through the generosity of Estelito Mendoza’
- 33. What UP alumni owe the people ❑ The truth: What they know about the Marcos family’s abuses ❑ An acknowledgement: They may have benefited from the Marcos dictatorship’s abuses, whether financially or not ❑ An apology: For the roles they played during the Marcos dictatorship and for enabling the continued impunity of the Marcoses
- 34. Rise of authoritarian populist leaders
- 35. Never again?
- 36. But dead dictators buried as heroes can be exhumed
- 37. Because ‘the past does not go away’