The Supreme Court (SC) has reconstituted the special division in the Sandiganbayan that it created in 2008 to fast-track the resolution of cases pertaining to the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos and his family.

During its first full-court session under Chief Justice Renato C. Corona last Tuesday, the SC designated Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Efren N. Dela Cruz as the new chairperson of the three-member special Marcos court.

Dela Cruz replaces Presiding Justice Norberto Y. Geraldez, who died of pancreatic cancer last April.

The High Court also designated Associate Justices Teresita V. Diaz-Baldos and Alex L. Quiroz as regular members and Associate Justice Maria Cristina J. Cornejo as alternate member.

Cornejo will sit in the special division in the event a regular member is absent, the court said.

The SC issued the resolution in response to a letter sent by Dela Cruz in May, informing the High Tribunal that there are pending incidents in the case which need to be resolved.

In December 2008, the SC ordered the creation of the special division in the Sandiganbayan to look into one of the remaining forfeiture cases against the Marcoses.

This came after all chairmen of the anti-graft court’s five divisions inhibited from Civil Case No. 0141. Among those who refused to handle the case was then Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice now SC Associate Justice Diosdado M. Peralta.

Peralta distanced himself from the case because his wife, Court of Appeals Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta, was Assistant Solicitor General during the Marcos administration. The Office of the Solicitor General is the government’s top legal counsel.