VP Leni slams ‘barya’ Imelda bail, ‘improper dispensation of justice’

MANILA – It’s just “spare change” for one accused of stealing billions.

Vice President Leni Robredo had this to say about the Sandiganbayan’s decision to grant Ilocos Norte 2nd District representative Imelda Marcos a P150,000 bail after the former first lady was convicted of graft.

The anti-graft court, which had found Marcos guilty of funneling taxpayers’ money into foreign accounts during the regime of her late husband Ferdinand Marcos, granted the dictator’s widow temporary liberty while it resolved her petitions following her conviction.

For Robredo, this amount was too low for a woman whose family is accused of stealing billions from state coffers during her husband’s reign, a repressive regime also marked by killings and other human rights abuses.

She lamented that she was granted bail at all.

Iyong P150,000 na bail, napakaliit considering the enormity noong ninakaw. Pangalawa, barya lang iyon sa kaniya eh. Barya lang iyong P150,000,” Robredo told ABS-CBN News.

Itong napakayaman, parang nilibre mo na lang,” she said in an interview in San Remigio, Cebu, where she checked a local mental health facility.

Robredo described the bail grant as an “improper dispensation of justice.”

Ako, nakakalungkot. Masaya tayo kasi kahit napakatagal na panahon, nabigyan pa din ng katarungan iyong taumbayan. Pero iyong nakakalungkot, kasi pinapakita natin na hindi pantay iyong katarungan, iyong pag-dispense ng justice,” the opposition leader said.

She said the rich who commit crime must be treated the same as the poor.

Sana ma-correct iyong kamalian na ito, kasi hindi talaga. Parang nabiktima na nga iyong taumbayan, mabibiktima ulit dahil sa improper dispensation ng justice,” she said.

Robredo also said Marcos “mocked” the justice system when she failed to attend the promulgation of her case on Nov. 9, but came to a lavish party later that day, Robredo said.

Marcos earlier told the anti-graft court that she was unable to attend the promulgation of her case due to ‘multiple organ infirmities.’ She later said she was unaware that it was scheduled last week.

On the same day, she was seen at a birthday party in San Juan.

The Marcos family’s ill-gotten wealth “is estimated between US$5 billion to US$10 billion, the bulk of it deposited and hidden abroad,” according to the Philippine Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

The government has recovered a total of P170 billion over the past 30 years. (ABS-CBN News)

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