OSG to PCGG: Reject Tanenglian’s offer

THE Office of the Solicitor General has recommended to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) that it reject the application for criminal and civil immunity of businessman Mariano Tanenglian and his family.

Tanenglian made the offer in exchange for testifying as government witness in the ill-gotten wealth cases filed against his brother, tycoon Lucio Tan, and several others.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, in her concurrent capacity as solicitor general, sent the recommendation to PCGG chairman Camilo Sabio, saying that Tanenglian’s offer is suspect, would serve no useful purpose for the government and may even prove to be grossly disadvantageous in future forfeiture cases.

The PCGG, represented in the case by the OSG, is under the supervision and control of the DOJ; thus, the recommendation has the force and effect of a legal opinion.

The recommendation was issued after PCGG Legal Department director J. Ermin Miguel sought Devanadera’s opinion on the matter last July 13.

"If Tanenglian is only protecting his existing interest in the Lucio Tan Group of Companies, then why does he need to execute an immunity agreement if, in the opinion of his counsels, the prosecution in Civil Case no. 005 is weak? The inference that can be made from such actuation is that either the evidence for the prosecution is strong or he may only just use the agreement against Lucio Tan," Devanadera’s recommendation said.

The OSG said Tanenglian might just use the immunity agreement as his leverage against his brother to obtain substantial favors and interests in the Lucio Tan Group of Companies.

Essentially, Devanadera said the immunity agreement is in the form of a contract with a condition since the fulfillment by Tanenglian of his undertaking there depends entirely upon his will. She said this leaves government with no choice but to wait until Tanenglian chooses to fulfill his end of the bargain.

"After accomplishing the same, he may refuse to cooperate with the Republic without any damage or prejudice to himself… Indeed the agreement does not provide any sanction/penalty/liability in the event that Tanenglian reneges on his obligations thereon," she added.

The OSG also noted that Tanenglian was a treasurer in some of Lucio Tan’s corporations and was named one of the principal defendants who actively collaborated with the Marcoses in the accumulation of ill-gotten wealth."

Devanadera said two precedents where the Supreme Court approved immunity for alleged Marcos cronies involved recipients who spontaneously cooperated with the government and gave material information before the execution of any compromise agreement.

In contrast, she said Tanenglian has yet to give the PCGG any new information that could perhaps strengthen the government’s case, and there is no guarantee that he will do so even if the immunity agreement is executed.

Tanenglian, in his draft immunity agreement proposal, vowed to cooperate with the government by providing information relevant to the case and making himself available as witness for the state.

In exchange, Tanenglian proposed that he be dropped as defendant in a civil case being pursued by the government and that all writs of sequestration, particularly his shares of stocks in the Lucio Tan Group of Companies, be lifted. – Evangeline de Vera