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By Francis Earl A. Cueto Reporter
THE Presidential Commission on
Good Government (PCGG) is ready to seize the assets and properties
of convicted ex-president Joseph Estrada if President Gloria Arroyo
would order it.
Commissioner Camilo Sabio, PCGG
chairman, said if President Arroyo would issue an executive order to
seize the assets, then “we are ready for it.”
“We’ll just wait [for] what
the President says. But we’ll have to study the case, of
course,” Sabio said.
Sabio, however, hastened to add,
“We will do what can be legally done. We’ll act with our
conscience. Of course, if it can’t be done legally, then we’ll
have to tell the President. To protect her, we’ll have to be
honest to her even if she gets angry.”
Sabio was reacting to a recent
pronouncement by Finance Secretary Margarito Teves that the PCGG has
been tasked to handle the forfeiture of the assets said to be
illegally acquired by Estrada, based on the Sandiganbayan’s
decision on his plunder case.
Sabio however, said the PCGG
would have to wait for an order from the President before it could
act on the matter.
“I don’t know yet. They
haven’t told me [about] that yet. But that’s one of the powers
of PCGG. If it’s given to us by the President, we have no choice
but to do it. And we’ll do it the best we can. But so far no
orders, I understand,” Sabio said in a press conference at the
PCGG headquarters in Mandaluyong City.
“Even just a directive, I
think. But it is better if it’s an executive order [E.O.]. Of
course, we will do everything we can. Our job is to assist the
President,” Sabio answered when asked if Mrs. Arroyo has to
issue an E.O. to execute the forfeiture of Estrada’s assets.
While the PCGG still has to
resolve the ill-gotten wealth cases filed against the Marcoses and
their alleged cronies after more than 21 years since the commission
was formed, Sabio said they are up to the task if ordered to do so
by the President.
The PCGG has the power to handle
other ill-gotten wealth cases, aside from those allegedly amassed by
the Marcoses and their cronies.
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