Francisco Chavez vs Presidential Commission on Good Government

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.