The former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) sidewalk clearing operations group director, Roberto Esquivel, and his wife, Marissa, vowed to return over P5.3 million of ‘unexplained wealth’ to the government.
This development came after the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division, in an April 21 resolution, granted the respondents’ Motion to Withdraw the Appeal and instead return the ‘unexplained wealth’ worth P5,307,079.70.
‘Their appeal is deemed WITHDRAWN and this case is hereby ordered DISMISSED,’ the four-page resolution dated April 21, signed by associate justices Michael Frederick Musngi, Arthur Malabaguio, and J. Ermin Ernest Louie Miguel.
In a January 18, 2023 decision, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of San Pedro, Laguna declared a total of P6,859,589.70 ‘unlawfully acquired or ill-gotten’ by the respondents. But the RTC recomputed it to P5,307,079.70 after the respondents filed a motion for reconsideration on April 12, the same year. The Sandiganbayan resolution did not mention the circumstances surrounding the unexplained wealth.
Eventually, the respondents elevated the case to the Court of Appeals (CA) on Feb. 11, 2025, but its 11th Division denied their Motion to Withdraw the Appeal on May 19 of the same year, holding that the Sandiganbayan, not the CA, has jurisdiction over the forfeiture case.
On June 18, 2025, the respondents also filed a Motion to Withdraw the Appeal before San Pedro RTC, and, this time, asked the trial court ‘to allow them to settle or pay the entire amount adjudged against them’ pursuant to Republic Act No. 1379, which allows the state to forfeit ill-gotten wealth. In doing so, the respondents asked the RTC to lift the writ of attachment to their properties and order their release.
‘[I]t is self-evident that respondents-appellants have subsequently but firmly decided to accept in its entirety the adverse judgement of the trial court against them finding that they have an unexplained wealth,’ the Sandiganbayan resolution said.