MANILA, PHILIPPINES: A Manila court Monday (10 Mar) acquitted former first lady Imelda Marcos of 32 counts of illegal money transfers to foreign bank accounts during her husband’s 20-year rule.

The 44-page decision by Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. of the Manila Regional Trial Court came after a 17-year trial in the case involving millions of dollars stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

“This court cannot in all conscience convict the accused on the basis of mere hearsay and on the basis of documents, which were not authenticated and proved in the proper manner,” Pampilo said.

Pampilo said the government, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), failed to prove that Mrs. Marcos, her late husband president Ferdinand Marcos, and late crony Roberto Benedicto conspired not to report dollar earnings from foreign bank accounts.

"The witnesses presented by the prosecution have no authority to identify the documentary evidence that they have presented in court," Pampilo said.

The case has been pending for more than 15 years as Pampilo blamed the delay to the prosecution.

He noted that late last year alone, hearings on the case have been rescheduled eight times upon request by the prosecution.

Elegant in a green terno with matching jewelry, the widow of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos clasped her hands, smiled and thanked her lawyers when the decision was read at past 8:30 a.m.

At the Manila Pavilion Hotel after the promulgation of the decision, she said, “truth for the Marcoses will be justice for the Filipino.”

Of the 901 cases filed against her after her husband’s downfall, 10 criminal cases remain with the anti-graft court, Imelda’s lawyer Robert Sison said.

Marcos fled into exile in 1986 with his family after he was overthrown in the People Power Revolution led by the Catholic Church and breakaway elements of the military.

At the time, it was claimed Marcos had milked the country of between $5 billion and $10 billion.

After a 22-year search for the so-called hidden Marcos wealth, the government has only managed to retrieve $683 million from several Swiss bank accounts.

The court said the government “miserably failed” to present any witness who could have been a party to, or at least have seen, the execution of the alleged Swiss bank documents.

The prosecution submitted documentary evidence, but the court deemed the documents not authenticated because Chavez and former Assistant Solicitor General Caesario del Rosario, the only two witnesses, were unqualified as “handwriting experts.”

The Swiss bank documents submitted by the prosecution, added the court, violated the “best evidence rule” as these were not original documents.

Pampilo said there was also no evidence on the charge of conspiracy against the accused.

“The prosecution merely presented documentary evidence that Benedicto invested in the Philippine-issued dollar-denominated treasury notes. It did not say that Mr. Benedicto did the transaction for herein accused. He did it for himself alone,” said the court.

In September 1983, the Central Bank issued dollar T-notes totaling $125 million—$75 million of which was purchased under Benedicto’s name.

The former first lady, who was often nostalgic about Marcos rule at the press conference, said the rule of law prevailed with her acquittal and urged her countrymen to focus on what is “beautiful.”

“Our country is rich and Filipinos are intelligent and very creative. Let us unite... This country should not be poor,” Imelda said.

She said “truth is God ... Let us spread what is beautiful.”

Imelda asked the media not to look for rumors. “Let’s look for truth so we could have a beautiful future,” she said. (By TETCH TORRES & ALLISON LOPEZ/ Philippine Daily Inquirer/ ANN)

With reports from Jerry E. Esplanada