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By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Reporter
REFUSING to take part in internal squabbling
inside the Presidential Commission on Good Government, William
Dichoso finally resigned as a commissioner due to nagging problems
about the legitimacy of his re-appointment, The Manila Times learned
over the weekend.
In an interview, Commissioner Narciso Nario,
head of the PCGG legal affairs department, bared that Dichoso,
already appointed twice at PCGG, finally tendered his irrevocable
resignation on February 22.
PCGG is the agency tasked to recover alleged
ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family and its cronies. It was
created in 1986, immediately after the downfall of the Marcoses.
“I learned that Commissioner Dichoso has
tendered his irrevocable resignation to Chairman Sabio last
[February 22], and that is why he is no longer reporting to office,
because of the problem involving his appointment,” he said.
Dichoso is a PCGG returnee whose re-appointment
took effect in January 2008, when another commissioner, Nicasio
Conti, left for the United Kingdom for a scholarship grant.
He was a recruit of the late PCGG chairman
Haydee Yorac, who led a commission that was bent against having any
compromise deals with the Marcoses and their cronies.
Before she passed away, Yorac said that PCGG was
established to recover illegally-acquired wealth during the Marcos
years, so it should not be playing footsies with the defendants.
Dichoso stayed on even when Yorac died in 2005,
and left only in mid-2006 when he was accused of “not [being] a
team player”, for disagreeing with the other commissioners who
favored compromise settlements with the Marcoses and their cronies.
He was appointed director at the Development
Bank of the Philippines after his first stint in the PCGG.
However, his return was marked with certain
controversies that came at the heels of an internal war between
Sabio and Commissioner Nicasio Conti whom he wanted to be sacked
from the agency.
Sabio insisted that Conti has already been
replaced by Dichoso, but the former chief of the Presidential
Anti-Graft Commission said he is still a commissioner of the agency.
Reports said that Sabio even brought Dichoso to
the Palace during an update of the PCGG activities, but was
“shooed away” by Palace officials after President Gloria Arroyo
questioned his appointment.
Sources said that the incident was what prompted
Dichoso to tender his resignation.
“I think he resigned because of such
appointment problems, so I think so as to avoid these problems, he
resigned as commissioner,” Nario said.
The Manila Times tried, but failed to get a
response from Sabio, whose phone just kept on ringing.
However, Nario said that even if certain cobwebs
about the appointment of Dichoso were sorted out, Conti’s
battles are far from over.
Fellowship program, but told a broadcast media
station that he is still with the PCGG. His course ends on April 4.
The television report said that Conti, quoting a
text message from a Palace source whom he refused to name, said the
Palace has yet to appoint someone to replace him.
Conti said in the interview that anti-graft has
been his thrust as received numerous death threats for leading a
lifestyle check on corrupt government officials as a commissioner of
the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission.
He himself conducted a lifestyle check on PCGG
nominees in sequestered companies, and reportedly led an
investigation into the questionable cash advances made by Sabio.
Earlier, Conti proposed that the Senate conduct
an inquiry into the alleged P1-million donation from the PHC.
“I suggest that they investigate and ask the
PHC officials who received the P1-million donation from them to pin
down the culprit,” Conti said, saying Sabio’s claim is baseless.
“If indeed there was a demand for and
acceptance of P1 million donation from PHC, I have no knowledge
about it,” Conti added.
Of the 111 criminal cases filed since the Aquino
administration, 27 were behest-loan cases. Of these, 18 prospered in
the Sandiganbayan, the government’s anti-graft court. Two behest
loan cases involved former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
The PCGG Legal Department and the Office of the
Solicitor General handled more than 900 cases. A total of 517 civil
cases were filed before the Supreme Court, the Sandiganbayan and
other lower courts.
Tasked with recovering the ill-gotten wealth,
the PCGG has attacked the Office of the Ombudsman for dismissing
majority of the cases submitted to it. The Ombudsman has also
criticized the PCGG, the principal complainant in the cases, for not
obtaining enough evidence.
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