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P135 M from a Dead General? Cute. Now Forfeiture the Billions That Turn Metro Manila into Venice Every July.”

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Louis ‘Barok’ Biraogo

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P135 M from a Dead General? Cute. Now Forfeiture the Billions That Turn Metro Manila into Venice Every July.”
The Supreme Court just proved death is no escape. Flood-control thieves, your fake dikes won’t save you either.

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — November 22, 2025

The General Who Died Rich and the Heirs Who Thought Death Was a Receipt

Let’s do the math first, because apparently the Ligot family never did.

Lawful income of Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot + wife (1982–2004): P6.6 million.
Assets the Supreme Court just ordered forfeited: P135 million.

That’s not a gap. That’s the Grand Canyon with a Forbes Park address.

Two houses in California worth P33 million each. A condo in Essensa East Forbes that costs more than the annual budget of a small municipality. Raw land, investment accounts, a building in Malaybalay, and AFPSLAI accounts of the Ligot children that mysteriously ballooned to P200,000–P420,000 each while they were still supposedly living on baon money.

A general’s salary bought all that?
Brother, the math isn’t mathing. It never mathed.

And on November 19, 2025, in a decision penned by Justice Japar Dimaampao, the Supreme Court finally screamed what every taxi driver in Metro Manila already knew: those assets are ill-gotten, death is not an escape hatch, and putting the title in your sister’s name doesn’t make the money halal.

RA 1379: the only floodgate that actually works in Metro Manila.

The “Dummy” Defense: Officially Dead and Buried

Ah, the classic move: “Hindi ko yan, kay ate ‘yan. Kay kuya ‘yan. Kay bunso ‘yan.”

Sister Miguela Ligot-Paragas and brother-in-law Edgardo Yambao swore the Essensa condo was theirs. The children claimed their fat AFPSLAI accounts came from… allowance?

The Supreme Court’s response can be summarized in one Filipino word: U_ol.

They looked at the amortization payments (traceable to Ligot money). They looked at the bank accounts (Ligot money). They looked at the declared income of the “owners” (zero capacity).

Section 10 of Republic Act No. 1379 – the provision that says legal title is irrelevant when the money came from the public officer – just got weaponized harder than ever. The Court drove a tank through the dummy defense and kept reversing over the corpse for twenty pages.

Congratulations, relatives of grafters: your services as human land titles are hereby terminated with extreme prejudice.

The Good: A Rare Supreme Court Flex Worth Celebrating

This Third Division didn’t just affirm the Sandiganbayan – they weaponized Republic Act No. 1379 (the Forfeiture Law) in a way we haven’t seen since the Marcos Swiss-deposits cases.

  • Forfeiture is in rem → death doesn’t extinguish it.
  • Section 2 of RA 1379 creates an automatic presumption once disproportion is shown.
  • Hiding the loot behind your children’s names is not a retirement plan; it’s money laundering with extra hugs.

This is the sharpest anti-corruption blade the Court has handed the Republic in years.

The Caveat (Because I’m Not a Cheerleader, I’m a caveman)

Yes, the burden-shifting in RA 1379 is brutal. Yes, it can feel like guilt by spreadsheet. And yes, in theory it could sweep up truly innocent relatives.

But in the Ligot case? The evidence was a neon sign flashing “NINAKAW ITO.”

Now the Main Event: Flood Control Thieves, Your Time Is Up

If P135 million in unexplained general money triggers automatic forfeiture under RA 1379, then what the hell are we waiting for with the billions that vanish every typhoon season into ghost dikes and substandard pipes?

The Supreme Court just handed the Ombudsman and the Solicitor General a fully loaded legal bazooka called The Heirs of Lt. Gen. Jacinto Ligot v. Republic (G.R. Nos. 257827, 257940, 258109 & 259593).

So here’s my direct, public, non-negotiable challenge:

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla and Solicitor General Darlene Marie Berberabe,
You now have iron-clad, fresh Supreme Court precedent that death doesn’t save the loot and relatives are not bulletproof vests.

File the RA 1379 petitions. Today. Against every single official, engineer, and contractor implicated in the DPWH flood-control anomalies that COA has been flagging for years.

The blueprint is on your desk. Do you have the guts?

Tick tock, gentlemen.
The water is rising. And this time, it’s coming for you.

—Barok

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Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo

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