Among those who are trying to discourage former first lady Imelda Marcos from agreeing to a 75-25 split of Marcos assets in favor of the government were San Miguel Corp. chair Eduardo ''Danding'' Cojuangco Jr., Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile who owns Jaka Corp., and tobacco-beer magnate and banker Lucio Tan.

''The Marcos friends believe that since the government has less than a year to pursue the cases against the sequestered assets of the alleged cronies, it would have no choice but to agree to the terms to be imposed by Ms Marcos,'' one of the sources said.

Asked what terms the cronies found favorable to the Marcoses, the source said the compromise agreement should be reversed, meaning, the 75-25 deal proposed by the government should be in favor of the Marcoses.

''In fact, they wanted Ms Marcos not to settle at all because they are confident they could retain 100-percent ownership of the sequestered firms,'' the source said.

President Estrada had earlier given Presidential Commission on Good Government Chair Felix de Guzman one year to wrap up the cases against the 500 sequestered firms of the cronies.

If this could not be done, Mr. Estrada wanted the PCGG to try another tack: Enter into a 75-25 split with the Marcoses.

Sources close to the Marcoses said the cronies had started meeting with Ms Marcos to ''map out plans'' to defeat government efforts to recover the family's alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Even those who dissociated themselves from the strongman shortly after he and his family were ousted from power in the February 1986 ''people power'' revolt had started to ''renew ties'' with his heirs.

''The Marcos friends are always having closed-door meetings with Madame Marcos,'' one of the sources said. ''The meetings and phone calls started shortly after the Supreme Court decision on the PLDT case came out.''

The source, who was privy to the discussions in the meetings, said the cronies either met the Marcoses in the latter's home or talked to them on the phone.

They did not want to be seen in public with the Marcoses, the source said.

Accept or reject

Asked what the former first lady told the cronies, the source said: ''Ms Marcos is weighing things and she has yet to accept or reject the proposals and strategies (by the cronies).''

On Friday, the high court ordered the lifting of the sequestration of the 26 percent of PLDT shares held by alleged Marcos crony Ramon Cojuangco who died in May 1984, his wife Imelda, and Prime Holdings Inc. (PHI).

Ramon was a cousin of Danding. His widow is a prominent member of the former first lady's clique of ''Blue Ladies.''

The Supreme Court had affirmed two Sandiganbayan resolutions which declared the PCGG writs of execution were automatically lifted on the ground that these had been signed by only one commissioner.

''With the recent boo-boo in the one-commissioner signature on the PLDT case, the Marcos friends believe the tide is turning in their favor and they can make the government agree to their and Ms Marcos' terms,'' said the source.

Another source said Cojuangco was increasing pressure on Ms Marcos to reject outright the government's deal.

The source said Cojuangco's position as SMC chair might be ''jeopardized'' once it was established that he acquired the stocks using public funds and at Marcos' behest, ''in the same way that positions of these Marcos friends in various sequestered firms would be affected if the government would win its cases against them.''

On Saturday, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora said the Estrada administration would ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision on the sequestration on Ramon Cojuangco's PLDT shares.

Against deal

First-term Rep. Juan ''Jackie'' Ponce Enrile of Cagayan yesterday branded as ''absolutely ridiculous'' the claim of a Marcos lawyer that he blocked in Congress the proposed deal with the Marcoses upon the instructions of his senator-father.

The young Enrile and Cojuangco's son, Negros Occidental Rep. Carlos ''Charlie'' Cojuangco, were among the 40 lawmakers who signed a petition at the House of Representatives rejecting Mr. Estrada's call for Congress to decide if the government would bargain with the Marcoses.

Mr. Estrada, a former Marcos supporter himself, had earlier said he was willing to consult Congress on the possibility of working out an out-of-court settlement with the Marcoses and their cronies in exchange for dropping pending cases against them.

''While I love and respect my father, and we get to occasionally discuss issues, we never interfere with, nor question each other's decisions,'' the young Enrile said in a statement.

He said he signed the petition because the compromise deal would send a ''wrong signal'' to the public that it was all right for future leaders to steal billions of pesos, get caught and charged, then wait for a compromise settlement.

Justice and truth, he said, should never be compromised. ''If the Marcoses were guilty, they should be prosecuted,'' he said.

While the Marcos cronies are busy mapping out plans to hold on to their sequestered firms, PCGG's De Guzman is bent on pursuing the cases against them.

Starting this week, De Guzman said he would hire three top lawyers to do nothing but concentrate on the ill-gotten wealth cases.

At present, the PCGG has five lawyers who, however, only work part-time for the commission.

''With less than a year, I hope to prosecute the cases against 500 other sequestered companies and we can do that with three top lawyers concentrating on the pending cases,'' De Guzman said.

By Christine Herrera