The Sandiganbayan reverted Wednesday the sequestered “Canlubang Mansion” of former President Ferdinand Marcos to his heirs as it stopped the government from exercising ownership over it.

But an official of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said the agency will contest before the Supreme Court the Sandiganbayan decision.

Jaime Bautista, PCGG Commissioner for Legal Affairs, said bringing the case to the High Tribunal is an option though he said they have yet to see a copy of the order.

In a 24-page resolution written by Associate Justice Gregory Ong, the Sandiganbayan’s 4th Division granted the motions of Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to cancel the annotation of list pendens (pending litigation) on Transfer Certificate of Title (TCT) No T-85026, which covers the property located in Cabuyao, Laguna.

“Consequently, the plaintiff (government) is hereby ordered to immediately cease from further interfering with the exercising ownership over the subject property and to return the possession and control thereof to defendant-movant and the other registered owners,” the ruling states.

The resolution was concurred in by Associate Justices Jose Hernandez and Roland Jurado.

The anti-graft tribunal likewise ordered the government to fully comply with the order within a period of 30-days from receipt hereof.

It also junked the plea of the government “for the issuance of a preliminary attachment” on the property for lack of merit.

It gave credence to the contention of the Marcos heirs that the subject property, which was alleged to be ill-gotten, has never been concealed or disposed of by them.

The Sandiganbayan said that the affidavits issued by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is “insufficient to support the application for a writ of attachment.”

“The ground of grounds were merely stated in general terms, without specific allegations of circumstances to show the reason why plaintiff believes that the subject property forms part of the illegally acquired valuable properties which had been concealed or unaccountable,” it added.

The Marcos children – Ferdinand Jr., Imee Marcos-Manotoc, and Irene Marcos-Araneta – earlier contended that the government has no right to exercise ownership over the mansion as court records would show that it is not one of the properties subject of sequestration by the government.

They stressed that as early as June 5, 1997, the Ilocos Sur solon had already filed an Omnibus Motion “seeking the cancellation of the Notice of Lis Pendens erroneously annotated on Transfer Certificate of Title No. T-85026 [which had been] issued by the Registry of Deeds of the Province of Laguna."

Part of the evidence they presented was a certification of Sandiganbayan Executive Clerk of Court Emma Rosario, dated August 17, 1989, which stated that the mansion was not among the Marcos assets sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), after the 1986 ouster of the late dictator. (With a report from JC Bello Ruiz)