MALACAñANG on Wednesday gave assurances that the government would continue to go after the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth even if the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is abolished.

This came as House leaders warned that abandoning the hunt for the wealth amassed by the late president Ferdinand Marcos and his family would constitute “injustice to the Filipino people.”

In a press briefing, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) would handle the ill-gotten wealth cases if the recommendation to abolish the PCGG is approved. He added that the “substantial number of assets” recovered by the PCGG would be turned over to the Department of Finance.

For the year 2012, the PCGG recovered $364 million of the Marcos’ loot deposited in different Swiss banks.

“If the office [PCGG] is abolished by Congress, it does not mean the ill-gotten wealth cases will die,” Lacierda clarified.

He stressed, however, that the proposal to abolish the PCGG has not yet been discussed with the President. He also pointed out that there was nothing new about the proposal.

“In fact, in their PCGG website, as early as January of 2011 they came out with this particular report, ‘An Introduction to the Conclusion: 100-Day Report on Plan of Action.’ And, if you go through page 15 of the report, it says 25 years and not much longer, they spoke about their plan to wind down their operations,” he said.

PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista earlier said that the government would wind down the 26-year hunt for the embezzled wealth of the former president, with more than half of the supposed $10-billion fortune still missing.

“It has become a law of diminishing returns at this point. 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. In order now to be able to get these monies back, you need to spend a lot.” he said.

Bautista told reporters yesterday that the commission will no longer be filing new cases against the Marcoses.

“Wala na, wala na kaming bagong ebidensya [we have no new evidence],” Bautista said.

He said that since the PCGG was created in 1986 by former president Corazon Aquino, the agency has filed about 200 cases here and abroad against the Marcoses and their cronies.

Bautista maintained that other government agencies like the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman can continue prosecuting the cases.

“It would be more cost efficient on the part of the government to abolish the PCGG and let the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman to take charge in going after the Marcoses,” he said.

The PCGG chief added that the agency has recovered P164 billion or $4 billion of the ill-gotten wealth, including real estate here and abroad, jewelry and about $600 million in secret Swiss accounts.

Bautista said that the hunt for the Marcos loot was also compromised by the flawed justice system and aggravated by government officials, even from the PCGG, who have failed to do their task, and lack of adequate budget.

The agency, which has around 200 personnel, has a P102.246 million budget this year.

The PCGG chief maintained that the agency does not lack the will to continue efforts to recover the Marcos wealth.

“Without a doubt dapat pa ring habulin ito but dapat ba ang PCGG pa rin? Do you need 200 people to do this?” he asked.

The PCGG’s plan of winding down calls for the transfer of cases to the DOJ and for the seized assets to be managed by the Department of Finance.

Small budget
Rep. Simeon Datumanong of Maguindanao agreed the PCGG could only do so much with that
“shoestring budget.”

“In the long run, the search for the Marcoses’ wealth will cost the government more than what it can recover so it was right for the PCGG to give it up,” said Datumanong, who served as Justice secretary during the Arroyo administration.

Rep. Sherwin Tugna of Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption party-list said that the low budget was no reason to abandon the hunt for the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

 “While I agree that PCGG’s budget is too low compared to the ammunition and power of the Marcoses, I disagree with the total abolition of the PCGG. The recovery cases that have evidence and merit should be continued. It will be highly unjust and unfair to the Filipino people to discontinue these claims and possible recovery of assets,” he said.

Former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez backed Bautista’s proposal, saying the PCGG should have been abolished “ages ago.”

“The PCGG should have already been brought to the junkshop,” Chavez told The Manila Times.

He added that he proposed the abolition of the commission during his tenure as solicitor general “because it was unable to meet its mandate.”

Despite numerous criminal and civil cases filed against them, none of the Marcos heirs or their cronies had been successfully prosecuted. The late dictator’s son and namesake Ferdinand, Jr. is now a senator, his widow Imelda is a representative of Ilocos Norte and daughter Imee the governor of Ilocos Norte.

Party-list Reps. Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna agreed with Tugna that the PCGG should persist in pursuing the hidden wealth of the Marcoses.

“They owe it to the victims of human rights violations during Marcos’ time and the Filipino people. If they stop, the lessons that we will have here would be ‘crime pays and if you steal big, you can get away with it,’” said Colmenares, a victim of human rights violations during the Marcos regime.

He urged the prosecution of the PCGG officials and prosecutors who “weakened or lost” the cases against the Marcoses.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said her office is ready to pursue the ill-gotten wealth cases against the heirs and cronies of the late strongman.

If this happens, de Lima said, she would order an inventory of cases to determine the weak and the strong ones. She added that she would carefully study if the creation of a unit within the department is needed to augment its legal needs.

However, the Justice chief pointed out that she has yet to receive any confirmation from the chief executive on PCGG’s abolition.

With reports from John Constantine G. Cordon and Jomar Canlas