G.R. No. 195295 - REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, VS. SANDIGANBAYAN, FOURTH DIVISION, FERDINAND "BONGBONG" R. MARCOS, JR., MA. IMELDA "IMEE" R. MARCOS-MANOTOC, GREGORIO MA. ARANETA III, AND IRENE R. MARCOS ARANETA.DECISION - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

Accordingly, considering that the notice of lis pendens was erroneously annotated, its cancellation is in order. [48] The conclusion that the Cabuyao property is not involved in the Civil Case is based on the belief that failure to specifically mention the property in the amended Complaint automatically renders it beyond the scope of the Civil Case. Executive Order No. 14, which defines the jurisdiction over cases involving the ill-gotten wealth of Former President Marcos and his family, associates, dummies, agents, and nominees, specifically states that the technical rules of procedure and evidence shall not be strictly applied to the civil cases filed under it. Thus, this Court has emphasized this provision and pointed out that strict adherence to technical rules will hamper the efforts of the Presidential Commission on Good Government: We note that the law governing the issues raised in this petition calls for the setting aside of technical rules when necessary to achieve the purposes behind the PCGG's creation. It is to be reiterated that paragraph 2 of Section 3, of Executive Order No. 14 reads: .... "The technical rules of procedure and evidence shall not be strictly applied to the civil cases filed hereunder." Section 7 thereof also provides: "SECTION 7. The provisions of this Executive Order shall prevail over any and all laws, or parts thereof, as regards the investigation, prosecution, and trial of cases for violations of laws involving the acquisition and accumulation of ill-gotten wealth as mentioned in Executive Order Nos. 1 and 2." A settled rule on construction is found in the case of Leveriza v. Intermediate Appellate Court: ". . . that another basic principle of statutory construction mandates that general legislation must give way to special legislation on the same subject, and generally be so interpreted as to embrace only cases in which the special provisions are not applicable, that a specific statute prevails over a general statute and that where two statutes are of equal theoretical application to a particular case, the one designed therefor specially should prevail. ["] On this score alone, the Sandiganbayan's rejection of the petitioner's motion on the ground that dropping Campos, Jr. as defendant in the civil case would amount to a violation of the Rules of Court is based on shaky ground. The Sandiganbayan's objections will hamper PCGG efforts in this similar cases. [49] The admitted Complaint was filed to recover, for the Republic of the Philippines, all the properties that were illegally acquired by the Marcoses during their incumbency as public officers and that were manifestly out of proportion to their salaries, other lawful income, and income from legitimately acquired property. [50] The assailed Resolutions do not suggest that the Cabuyao property is not part of the property illegally acquired by respondents. Thus, the conclusion that the Cabuyao property is not affected by the Civil Case is based solely on an inf