Sandigan orders Marcos Sr.'s associate to pay workers over P2M in damages, other benefits

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The Sandiganbayan has ordered the enforcement of its July 2023 decision mandating the associate of former President Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. to pay P2.1 million in damages to logging company workers, return 60% of company shares, among other benefits.

This developed after the anti-graft court issued a November 7, 2023 writ of execution for its July 18 resolution finding Peter Sabido, one of Marcos’ associates and a defendant in Civil Case 0024, liable to the Diatagon Labor Federation (DLF) or the group of workers of Lianga Bay Logging Company Inc. (LBLCI) for moral damages worth P1 million, exemplary damages worth P1 million, and P100,000 worth of cost of suit.

This was in connection with Sabido’s takeover of LBLCI that resulted in “acts of depredation against the best interest of the lumber workers.”

Civil Case 0024 alleged the former president, former First Lady Imelda Marcos, Sabido, Luis Yulo, Roberto Benedicto, Nicolas Dehesa, Jose Tengco Jr, Rafael Sison, Cesar Zalamea and Don Ferry of securing enormous loans from state-run financial institutions in favor of companies they control, including the Philippine Integrated Meat Company (PIMECO) and Lianga Bay Logging Company Inc. (LBLCI).

The case was dismissed in February 2023 due to lack of evidence, but the logging workers group DLF appealed the ruling and got a favorable decision in July, paving the way for the issuance of writ of execution.

The same writ of execution also states that in accordance to the court’s July decision, 60% the shareholdings of the logging company LBLCI, including all its assets, resources, and intangibles, are rightfully owned and/or for the benefit of the employees and workers of LBLCI who are all members of DLF.

Likewise, the court said the members of DLF are entitled to be paid their retirement benefits, separation pay, insurance premiums, cooperative shares, unpaid salaries, wages and backwages, accrued savings, vacation and sick leaves and bonuses.

“Considering that no motion for reconsideration, notice of appeal or any appropriate pleading has been filed by defendant Peter A. Sabido or any other parties in this case despite the lapse of the reglementary period, the Resolution promulgated on July 18, 2023, which forms part of the Decision promulgated on February 21, 2023 has already become final and executory,” the Sandiganbayan said.

“Let therefore, a Writ of Execution issue to enforce the Resolution promulgated on July 18, 2023,” it added.

The total amount of unpaid benefits will be determined by the DLF, in their capacity as intervenor in Civil Case 0024, submitting relevant and updated documents to LBLCI and the Philippine Commission on Good Government (PCGG). This will be subsequently submitted to an independent assessor to be nominated by all the parties involved and is subject to the approval of the Court.

In a previous court filing before the Sandiganbayan, DLF member Diosdado Ranque testified that Sabido paid himself P312,000 per month in 1981 as his salary or management fee as president of LBLCI, and that “Sabido wanted to hold full control of the company and wanted that the workers’ 60% shareholdings be transferred to his name.”

“He initiated plans in connivance with the trustee bank by means of pressuring the workers to sign a ready-made waiver of rights, which the workers refused to sign,” Ranque said.

“Peter Sabido arrogated unto himself and took control of the 60% shares of the workers and made inimical acts to the prejudice of the workers. I witnessed how the operation of the company was being mismanaged and manipulated by the Sabido group, resulting in the downfall of LBLCI,” he added.

He also told the court that the LBLCI, under Sabido’s leadership, made over-shipment of logs by 25% to 30% as compared to the actually loaded logs in the ship, that the loading in ships ranged from four to five times per month, and that the Sabido group would earn P90 million a year for such over-shipment spanning from 1982 to 1986.

He also told the Sandiganbayan since Sabido’s group co-mingled the funds of his own company, PIMECO, with the funds of LBLCI, to pay PIMECO’s Lease Purchase Agreement with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) when PIMECO was already operating at a loss.

Ranque said Sabido then decided to abandon the LBLCI when the Philippine government, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Office of the Solicitor General, filed ill-gotten wealth cases against Sabido and the rest of the accused in 1987.

He also claimed that when the PCGG-appointed lawyer Napoleon Sales to serve as chairman of the board and general manager of LBLCI, the company  entered into a Log Harvesting Contract Agreement with the Davao Metal Enterprises at P2,500.00 per cubic meter, an amount almost double the harvesting cost.

Finally, Ranque said the sales management and Sabido’s group leased the Lianga Bay Veneer and Plywood Processing Plant, including all equipment, to Davao Metal Enterprises at an agreed rental price of P200,000 a month that led to the logging company’s closure in 1992.—AOL, GMA Integrated News

This article Sandigan orders Marcos Sr.’s associate to pay workers over P2M in damages, other benefits was originally published in GMA News Online.