FACTS:
Petitioner Francisco I. Chavez, as taxpayer, citizen and former government
official who initiated the prosecution of the Marcoses and their cronies who
committed unmitigated plunder of the public treasury and the systematic
subjugation of the countrys economy, alleges that what impelled him to bring
this action were several news reports[2] bannered in a number of broadsheets
sometime in September 1997. These news items referred to (1) the alleged
discovery of billions of dollars of Marcos assets deposited in various coded
accounts in Swiss banks; and (2) the reported execution of a compromise,
between the government (through PCGG) and the Marcos heirs, on how to split or
share these assets.
A
provision in the compromise agreement provides:
xxx
the FIRST PARTY shall determine which shall be ceded to the FIRST PARTY, and
which shall be assigned to/retained by the PRIVATE PARTY. The assets of the PRIVATE PARTY shall be net of, and exempt from, any
form of taxes due the Republic of the Philippines. Xxx
ISSUE:
Whether or not such provision in the compromise agreement exempting the
Marcoses from the taxes due to the government in valid
RULING:
The PCGG has a limited life in carrying out its tasks and time is running short.
It is thus imperative that the Court must hold even now, and remind PCGG, that
it has indeed exceeded its bounds in entering into the General and Supplemental
Agreements. The agreements clearly suffer from Constitutional and statutory
infirmities,to wit: 1) The agreements contravene the statute in granting
criminal immunity to the Marcos heirs; 2) PCGG’s commitment to exempt from all
forms of taxes the property to be retained the Marcos’ heirs controverts the
Constitution; and 3)the government’s undertaking to cause the dismissal of all
cases filed against the Marcoses pending before the Sandiganbayan and other
courts encroaches upon judicial powers.
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