MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 3, 2013) – Manila said it would continue to pursue ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcoses amid proposals to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government which is tasked to recover the huge fortune.
“With (respect to) the pursuit of the ill-gotten wealth cases, assuming that Congress would abolish the PCGG, the ill-gotten wealth cases (against the Marcoses) will be transferred to the Department of Justice,” Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.
“So tuloy pa po ang mandato kung hindi sa PCGG, tuloy pa rin po ‘yung pagtugis doon sa mga ill-gotten wealth cases kasi pending ngayon ‘yon e. If the office is abolished by Congress, it does not mean the ill-gotten wealth cases will die. It has to be pursued,” he added.
Lacierda said the proposal to abolish the PCGG “is not something new”, pointing out that the PCGG had already made such proposal as early as 2011, as cited in a PCGG report posted on its website.
According to the last paragraph of page 16 of the PCGG report:
“This being said, whatever the final decision of the President is the commission will be no less decisive and effective in pursuing its cases and in safeguarding the republic’s interest.”
Lacierda, however, said in the winding of the PCGG operations, one of their recommendations is that the assets will be turned over to the Dept. of Finance, while the pursuit of the ill-gotten wealth cases — assuming that Congress would abolish the PCGG — will be transferred to the DOJ.
The PCGG earlier proposed to end the almost 30-year hunt for the alleged embezzled wealth of President Ferdinand Marcos, with more than half the supposed US$ 10 billion fortune still missing.
PCGG chief Andres Bautista said that with Marcos’ widow and children back in positions of political power, and the government tightening its belt, the cost of the pursuit has become prohibitive.
“It has become a law of diminishing returns at this point,” he said.
“It’s been 26 years and people you are after are back in power. At some point, you just have to say, ‘We’ve done our best’, and that’s that. It is really difficult.”
The Palace Spokesman said the proposed abolition of the PCGG has not been discussed yet with President Benigno Aquino III.
“There has been no discussion yet on that (proposed abolition of PCGG). We don’t know yet what would be the decision. But the DOJ certainly, once it is mandated to handle that, they will perform to the utmost best and we expect no less (than that),” he said. (Lilybeth G. Ison)
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