MANILA, Philippines — Presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the Presidential Commission on Good Government, created to run after ill-gotten wealth that the Marcoses and their cronies amassed during the dictatorship, may either be strengthened or be turned into an anti-corruption agency.
In an interview with DZRJ that aired Tuesday night, Marcos said: "It’s true that it has in its present form and in the way that it was organized in 1986, maybe it could be said that they no longer perform the function that they were originally created to do."
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If he wins, the PCGG, which has long batted calls for abolition from Congress, will be under the executive branch where Marcos would sit as chief.
The PCGG was created specifically to run after the ill-gotten wealth amassed during the Marcos dictatorship. In its 2020 Annual Report, the PCGG said it had recovered P174.230 billion since its establishment in 1986 until December 31, 2020.
But Marcos said the PCGG may become an anti-corruption commission instead.
"Let’s strengthen the PCGG and use it as anti-corruption body, anti-corruption agency as it was intended to do," he said.
"Although maybe perhaps you could say that the first time it was organized, it was really an anti-Marcos agency, nonetheless we could turn it into a real anti-corruption agency and the job that it was meant to do from the very beginning, has not been finished," Marcos added.
Cases under litigation
In the same accomplishment report, PCGG said it has an estimated P99.678-billion value of assets under litigation as of end of 2020. A Rappler report said that as of September 2021, the PCGG has recorded P125.983 billion in assets under litigation.
The campaign team of Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, Marcos’ rival, also reached out to the Bureau of Internal Revenue to urge it to renew written demands to the Marcos heirs to pay their tax liabilities pegged at billions.
Aksyon Demokratiko Chairman Ernest Ramel wrote to BIR Commissioner Ceasar Dulay that Marcos Jr. and daughters Imee and Irene had not filed estate tax returns nor paid estate tax.
Ramel said the Marcos family ignored all the notices sent by the BIR to pay estate tax amounting to P203.819 billion.
Sen. Manny Pacquiao, another presidential candidate, also vowed that he will run after Marcos' ill-gotten wealth if he gets elected.
Lawyer Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’ spokesperson, said the case Ramel was referring to has yet to reach finality. In a statement on March 3, he said that public prosecutors filed an appeal before the Sandiganbayn on the forfeiture proceedings.
"In fact, even the BIR and the PCGG have arrived at an agreement for the BIR to wait for the decision on the said case before any collection enforcement activities and to establish ownership of the subject properties with certainty to determine with accuracy the fair and just tax base to be used in computing estate taxes, if any," he added.
At a chance interview in a campaign sortie in Bulacan on Tuesday, Rodriguez said the BIR is the best authority to confirm the amount involved in the case.
Rodriguez however declined to answer what the prospects of these cases under litigation would be if Marcos wins. "We have a campaign to run and an election to win first," he added.