“In the Philippines there is no such thing as finality when you are poor and political. Because if you are rich or the son of a king of a department, you are a very important prisoner, your case will get decided for 75 days but for the poor and political and those targeted by the government, there is no end to their legal problems.”
By MAX SANTIAGO
Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said that the claim of Marcos’s camp that the payment of the estate tax was suspended because of an agreement with the BIR and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to wait for the outcome of the case pending in the Sandiganbayan is “utterly false”.
As another Marcos threatens to return to power, hundreds of millions in ill-gotten wealth have yet to be returned to the Filipino people.
Filipino artists are calling on the government to jail the other half of the Marcos conjugal dictatorship, Imelda Marcos, who has been convicted of several graft charges three years ago but remains scot-free.
“As long as there is ill-gotten wealth that remains in the hands of the Marcoses, we will continue to demand the return of all that were stolen from the Filipino people from the nation’s coffers. We will not allow more of that through another Marcos in the person of Ferdinand, Jr.”
These 17 cases of political prisoners highlight the injustices of the times. The calls for their release remain amid the continued freedom of a dictator’s wife known for her Imeldific lifestyle.
By DEE AYROSO
“Imelda Marcos was allowed to post bail two years ago, citing health reasons, even though she was able to attend and host parties since that time. Meanwhile, we have sickly and elderly political prisoners who were wrongly accused or convicted of crimes they have not committed, but are still unjustly suffering behind prison bars.”
Ang mga kaso ng pandarambong ni Imelda Marcos at paghahanap ng hustisya.
Villar and Marcos’ position in Philippine society echoes back to Marie Antoinette’s – a landed pseudo-aristocracy whose power stems from their stranglehold of economic production. These compradors and landlords have differ little from the old nobles of feudal societies.