MANILA, Philippines -- A close associate of deposed ruler Ferdinand Marcos agreed to turn over titles to a New York estate on Long Island, three Manhattan apartments and a Honolulu mansion in a $12.1 million out-of-court settlement, the government said Saturday.
Jovito Salonga, the chairman of a presidential commission set up to recover wealth allegedly misappropriated by Marcos and his associates, said businessman Antonio Floirendo agreed to the deal in exchange for the lifting of a freeze on his Philippine properties and the dropping of suits against him.
Floirendo, known as the 'Banana King' for his plantation holdings, is the second prominent associate of the former ruler to reach a final settlement with the government.
In May 1986, the government announced it had given industrialist Jose Y. Campos, chairman of the pharmaceutical giant United Laboratories Inc., immunity from prosecution in hidden wealth cases after he cooperated with Salonga's commission.
The negotiations with Campos helped the government recover properties amounting to more than $146 million.
A provisional agreement also has been reached with a third businessman, exiled 'Sugar Czar' Roberto Benedicto, who had vast holdings in the sugar industry, Traders Royal Bank and the Holiday Inn. Salonga said the settlement involved board reorganizations.
Floirendo, who fled the country in the wake of the revolt that toppled Marcos in February 1986, controls 47 Philippine businesses. But Salonga said the 'great majority' had been organized before Marcos came to power.
Under terms of the agreement, Floirendo has made a cash payment of 70 million pesos ($3.4 million), which was turned over to Aquino Saturday. He also agreed to produce the property titles, Salonga said.
The titles cover the 13-acre Lindenmere estate on Long Island, valued at $3.9 million, three apartments in Olympic Towers on Fifth Avenue, New York, worth $2.9 million and a $1.9 million mansion in Makiki Heights, Honolulu, Salonga said.
Salonga's Commission on Good Government in a little over a year has sequestered the assets of 268 companies, including banks, resorts and newspapers, and seized 81 motor vehicles, 31 aircraft, 13 ships and 143 tracts of land.
Commission members have estimated the total value of wealth recovered and frozen in the Philippines at about $1.5 billion. But the bulk of the wealth of Marcos and his associates -- an estimated $5 billion -- is said to be in Swiss bank accounts which have been frozen by Swiss authorities pending the outcome of recovery suits.
The government confirmed Saturday it had received a request by Aquino's estranged cousin, Eduardo 'Coconut King' Cojuangco, to return from U.S. exile to oversee the sequestration of 54 of his companies.
A statement quoted Aquino as saying every Filipino abroad 'is free to come home' but that in the case of Cojuangco, 'the national interest would have to be taken into consideration.'
Cojuangco, alleged to have taken over the coconut industry with the connivance of Marcos, flew with the former president to Hawaii. His passport has been revoked to block him from returning home.
