A SPECIAL division of five Sandi-ganbayan magistrates on Thursday junked the government's appeal on the dismissal of its claim over P220 million Marcos deposits at the Security Bank and Trust Company.

The government's case lost by a single vote with Associate Justices Roland B. Jurado, Teresita V. Diaz-Baldos and Samuel R. Martires ruling to dismiss the government's motion for reconsideration, defeating Associate Justices Ma. Cristina Cortez-Estrada and Norberto Geraldez, both of whom voted against SBTC.

Government lawyers now have to elevate the matter to the Supreme Court through a petition for certiorari in the hope that it will overturn the Sandiganbayan decision.

Jurado, Baldos and Matires said the appeal filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Solicitor General in behalf of the State was "bereft of merit" for failing to raise new arguments.

Upholding its May 29, 2007 decision, the graft court held that PCGG-OSG lawyers presented insufficient evidence to support their claim, particularly as they did not call a single witness to the stand and even waived their opportunity to cross-examine the bank's witnesses.

The case filed on April 10, 1997 alleged that SBTC failed to pay the balance of P220 million on the P981.41 million Marcos deposits that it was supposed to turn over to government. The bank, through then senior vice president Arcatomy Guarin, admitted on Oct. 29, 1987 that it was holding P981.41 million in various accounts of the Marcos family, some of which were dollar-denominated. This admission resulted in SBTC being dropped as a defendant in a separate lawsuit (Civil Case no. 0002) against the Marcoses and their associates presently pending before the graft court's Fourth Division.

Between Jan. 13, 1988 through Jan 2, 1992, Security Bank paid up over P775 million.