The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) today denounced the Sandiganbayan, claiming the court once again failed in its mandate to hold corrupt government officials accountable. “Dapat isara na lang Sandiganbayan kung ang Gagawin lang nito ay patakasin ang mga Marcos at kanilang kroni na napatunayan nang nagnakaw sa kaban ng bayan. What purpose does the Sandiganbayan serve if it merely dismisses cases and absolves the Marcos family and their cronies?” questioned KMP leader Danilo Ramos. This follows the court’s dismissal of a 37-year-old case involving the illegal acquisition of the multi-million peso Pinugay Estate in Tanay, Rizal, by the parents of President Bongbong Marcos Jr.

In July 1987, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Office of the Solicitor General filed charges against former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., former First Lady Imelda Marcos, and their associate Roman Cruz Jr., a then-official of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), over the unlawful purchase of the Pinugay Estate valued at P276 million.

Ramos also criticized the broader role of the Sandiganbayan in protecting the powerful. “The Philippine justice system is deeply corrupt, favoring the wealthy and influential while ignoring the demands for justice from the people. History and the courts have repeatedly shown that Marcos Sr, Imelda Marcos and their entire family plundered the nation’s coffers, funneling their ill-gotten wealth to Swiss and foreign accounts.

The Sandiganbayan has allowed itself to be used by the Marcoses to evade accountability—an endless disgrace to the institution,” according to Ramos, also a Makabayan senatorial candidate.

Ramos emphasized the importance of stopping this continued pattern of acquittals. “We cannot allow the Marcoses’ mockery of justice to persist.

The KMP also called for an end to what they described as a “pattern” of dismissals in cases involving the Marcos family and their associates. “We cannot allow this repeated travesty of justice. The world must remember how the Marcoses looted the Philippine treasury,” Ramos urged.

The Sandiganbayan’s latest ruling comes shortly after its decision to dismiss a separate case involving Imelda Marcos. The special court also acquitted former Senate President and current Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, his former chief of staff Atty. Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, and businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles in connection with the P172-million pork barrel scam. ###