Abolishing PCGG will set anti-corruption drive 'two steps back' — Hontiveros
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Wednesday that the proposed abolition of the body tasked to go after ill-gotten wealth amassed during the Marcos dictatorship would be a "self-destruction" of the government’s anti-corruption efforts.
Rep. Benny Abante (Manila, 6th District) filed House Bill No. 4331, which seeks to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government and transfer its functions to the Department of Justice because, he said, the agency has "not produced significant accomplishment [and] has outgrown its usefulness."
But in its 2020 Annual Report, the PCGG reported the recovery of a total of P174.2 billion since its establishment in 1986 until December 31, 2020. In the same accomplishment report, PCGG said it has an estimated P99.678-billion value of assets under litigation as of the end of 2020.
"The move will be two steps back in any and all of the government's anti-corruption efforts," Hontiveros said in a statement, saying that abolishing the PCGG will "greatly diminish" the Philippines’ ability to recover loot.
Hontiveros said the PCGG should be left alone as it stands to recover "trillions more" of wealth stolen from public coffers.
Besides, Hontiveros said, transferring the powers of the PCGG under the DOJ will "shrink further government's powers to carry-out the recovery effectively."
"If the PCGG is having a hard time on its own, what more if it’s just listed as one of the many responsibilities of the DOJ? The amount is so massive it is worthy of a separate entity that is able to focus all efforts towards this purpose," she said partly in Filipino.
There were also moves back in 2018 to abolish the PCGG and transfer its functions under the Office of the Solicitor General, which was then headed by Marcos loyalist Jose Calida.
Calida now heads the Commission on Audit, which under Abante’s proposal will be working with the DOJ, led by lawyer and former congressman Jesus Crispin Remulla, to create a "physical inventory and complete accounting of the sequestered properties and assets."
Remulla said in July that his department intends for the government to retain the PCGG to allow it to complete its recovery of some P125-billion in stolen wealth that still remains unseized to this day.
President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said during his campaign for the presidency that he aims to either strengthen the PCGG or turn it into an anti-corruption office with a wider mandate. — Xave Gregorio with reports from Franco Luna and Kristine Joy Patag
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