Former execs of Marcos firms told to return excessive salaries

MANILA, Philippines - Charges await former government executives who will fail to return excess salaries and bonuses they received when they were in charge of companies sequestered from the family and cronies of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) warned yesterday.

PCGG chairman Andres Bautista said the agency had sent demand letters to former officials to return the excess pay as early as December last year.

To date, Bautista said two of three former directors of the Independent Realty Corp. (IRC) have returned millions of pesos after receiving the demand letters.

He said the PCGG is set to file a case against the other IRC director before the Office of the Ombudsman.

The IRC, which handles the 18.5-hectare Payanig sa Pasig property, was surrendered by businessman Jose Campos in 1986.

Bautista said three of 12 former directors of the Bataan Shipyard and Engineering Corp. (Baseco) have expressed willingness to return the excess pay amounting to millions of pesos.

“The others have not yet replied,” he said, adding the commission is already drafting complaints against those who have not responded to them.

The PCGG chief refused to name the officials or disclose the amount involved, although he admitted it amounted to millions of pesos.

He said he expects Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to make recommendation on the complaint filed against former PCGG chairman Camilo Sabio.

Last year, the Ombudsman filed graft charges against Sabio and other former commissioners over the alleged anomalous vehicle deals they entered into in 2007 and 2009 without public bidding.