PCGG abolition long overdue - Congress leaders

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. expressed support yesterday for the plan to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), saying it was long overdue.

Belmonte issued the statement after PCGG chairman Andres Bautista bared plans over the weekend to abolish in two years the agency tasked to go after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

The House leader noted the PCGG “has been there for such a long time.”

“It (PCGG) was always envisioned, I think it was the first executive order of (the late) President (Corazon) Aquino that created it (in 1986). It was always envisioned to be a temporary thing and now how temporary is it? More than 20 years already,” Belmonte told reporters.

He said setting the timetable for the agency’s abolition would “impose a deadline on those sitting in the agency.”

“They (PCGG) commissioners would do what they can in the next two years, instead of just rolling it, and saying we have all the time to do it. They would really have a sense of urgency in doing their jobs,” Belmonte said.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos, who continues to battle attempts by the government and victims of the dictatorship to recover their ill-gotten wealth, refused to comment on the planned abolition of the PCGG.

Her chief of staff, Bebot Diaz, said the former first lady wanted to read first Bautista’s letter to President Aquino before making any comment.

Even Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile supported yesterday the plan to terminate operations of the PCGG in the next two years.

Enrile lamented that the PCGG has deviated from its cause to go after the alleged ill-gotten wealth of former President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his cronies after the dictator’s downfall in 1986.

He said the agency has become an instrument of “oppression later on” rather than as a tool for good governance. 

Also yesterday, the President said he is awaiting the report of PCGG officials on whether or not they have completed their mandate and if the remaining functions are best left to other government agencies.

In a separate statement, Sen. Francis Escudero also backed proposals to abolish the PCGG but he called for a performance audit and accounting of all the sequestered assets since its creation in 1986.

Escudero said the move to turn over pending cases and the recovered assets to different agencies of the government will augur well for the state’s coffers.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan said he supports Enrile, who has been supporting the abolition of the PCGG for a long time.

Institute for Good Governance

Meantime, top PCGG officials said that while they were laying down the ground for the commission’s abolition in a two-year time frame, they were also preparing for the creation of an agency that will wage a tougher fight against graft and corruption.        

In a press conference at the PCGG head office in Mandaluyong City, PCGG officials led by chairman Bautista said that their proposal for the abolition of the PCGG also included a recommendation for the creation of an Institute for Good Governance that will take up PCGG’s “little known” mandate of finding safeguards to prevent corruption.

Bautista, former dean of the Far Eastern University College of Law, said that by abolishing the PCGG and creating the Institute for Good Governance, the government can “de-focus” on going after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies. – With Christina Mendez, Rainier Allan Ronda