THE Supreme Court yesterday ordered the reinstatement of three Marcos scions – Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos-Manotoc, and Irene Marcos Araneta – as defendants in a government case seeking to recover some P200 billion in alleged ill-gotten wealth.

At the same time, the high court recommended to the government through the Office of the Solicitor General and the Presidential Commission on Good Government to conduct an investigation of the prosecutors assigned to prosecute cases involving the Marcoses and their alleged dummies.

The SC noted government prosecutors failed to present crucial evidence during trial which would have proven the guilt or innocence of the Marcos siblings as co-conspirators in the accumulation of ill-gotten wealth during the time of their father, former president Ferdinand Marcos.

“Let a copy of this decision be furnished to the Office of the President so that it may look into the circumstances of this case and determine the liability, if any, of the lawyers of the Office of the Solicitor General and the Presidential Commission on Good Government in the manner by which this case was handled in the Sandiganbayan,” the Court ruled.

Although the prosecution failed to prove that the Marcos children connived in amassing the ill-gotten wealth, the SC ruled that they should remain as defendants in the complaint for reversion, reconveyance, restitution, accounting and damages filed against their father being the latter’s heirs.   Hector Lawas