The Philippine Star
Sunday, December 6, 1998
Federico Pascual
Postscript

The adverse effects on the economy of these Centennial Claims will be incalculable. Settlement could forestall the messy free-for-all, but Imelda (that's only her and not necessarily her children, too) has foresworn settlement for the meantime.

Why should she settle if she believes that the properties legally belong to her family and that she could prove it? Besides, with topnotch lawyers and runners ensuring her a winning streak in the courts, she's definitely on a roll.

Okay, so assuming she or her family is indeed the legal owner of all those flagship companies, and is able to prove it, how will the government handle the economic run?

One route always open is to slap the Marcoses with tax evasion cases. How were they able to amass all that mind-boggling wealth on the bases of her and her deceased husbands' joint income declarations?

If she cannot be pinned down on unexplained wealth charges, will the government try the Al Capone way by filing tax cases that are easier to prove since they just involve mostly mathematical computations?

Maybe, but you can be sure Imelda's brilliant lawyers have thought of that already and are ready for it.

And like Lucio Tan, a favorite whipping boy of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Imelda may just be able to elicit a comment front the BIR bosses that the cases against her are weak.@