Marcos wealth hunt 20 years running

"Sir, the company fronting for the movement of Marcos wealth is (identity withheld for now), named after the initials of its CEO, retired Gen.___. It holds offices at ___, an unfinished condo building on ___ Avenue, Quezon City, near corner ___. This building was purchased with earnest money of P10 million thru Rep. ___ and businessman ___. The general has also purchased ___ Hotel along ___ Avenue, Makati City, beside ___ Plaza. He maintains confidential offices at ___ Condominium, ___ Avenue, Pasig City. Please investigate fast."

"Sir, regarding the Marcos loot, I was shown a US dollar draft dated June 2001 issued by ___ Trust in the amount of $100 million. They tried to negotiate the amount in Manila but even the American banks declined because of the huge amount. They ended up opening an account in New York to facilitate clearing. Proceeds should have been remitted to a local bank on Sept. 10, 2001, but the World Trade Center attack prevented it. The money consequently flowed back to ___ Bank in Manila, coinciding with its purchase of ___ Bank. $25 million was given as commissions of officers at the Dept. of Finance and Central Bank who facilitated the transfer. It is only the first; 17 other RP banks will be used for inward flows. You may not believe me, but you have the capability to check these out."

Government sleuths continue to receive tips of this sort. It could be just rumor or intrigue. Nonetheless the Presidential Commission on Good Government must sniff the trail, on the chance that it could lead to the real thing. But 20 long years after it began hunting the fabled ill-gotten wealth of Ferdinand Marcos, the PCGG is beginning to show signs of fatigue. It has filed close to 1,500 cases against the Marcos family and cronies. Most are pending in the Sandiganbayan; others are on appeal in the Supreme Court. Dozens of cars and real estate property, and hundreds of office or factory machines remain sequestered, anticipating court verification of Marcos ownership before auction. At the rate things are going, it will be a longer wait.

Meantime, the agrarian reform program that depends on discovery and sale of hidden Marcos assets is starving for cash. Too, close to 10,000 victims of Marcos torture and heirs of the disappeared and murdered are expecting recompense awarded by a Honolulu court also from the Marcos wealth. What is the PCGG to do?

"In two decades we have ascertained only the $356 million (from a Swiss bank), since grown with interests to $600 million," says Camilo Sabio, PCGG chair since Oct. 2005. "We got more from settlements with cronies to surrender Marcos assets (they fronted for). It’s time we negotiate with the Marcoses also."

Negotiation is a bad word for many Marcos victims. They had won the Honolulu case fair and square, and expect the PCGG to do so in Manila as well, this time for retribution. But circumstances clearly aren’t the same. Justice Philippine-style simply grinds too slow. Marcos died in 1989 and most of his co-accused cronies have since passed away too. It’s time for closure, Sabio says. For this, Commissioner Ric Abcede has begun touching base with Marcos’s widow Imelda, and children Imee, Ferdinand Jr. and Irene.

Negotiation is a narrow path as well. A Supreme Court ruling has so ensured. The PCGG in 1995 signed a deal with the Marcoses for a 75:25 split of their wealth, the bulk going to the government. Frank Chavez, then just retired as solicitor general, questioned its constitutionality. The Tribunal nullified the deal on three grounds: it did not give the Marcoses a deadline to disclose all their wealth, it deemed all criminal and civil cases automatically dismissed, and it had no presidential approval.

The sharing percentage is of no consequence, Sabio says, although aiming for better than three-fourths for the government. "That all depends on timing, that’s why my predecessors had a 52:48 settlement with Roberto Benedicto.

But avoiding the pitfalls of the voided settlement is a must. It will stipulate full disclosure by the Marcos within a reasonable period of time, Sabio says. It will rightly leave to the courts the decision to dismiss cases, although the Ombudsman handling the criminal proceedings and the Solicitor General over the civil ones would need to withdraw prosecution. It would have to pass presidential okay.

Sabio imposes on himself two conditions: the Marcoses must show sincerity, and PCGG would fully disclose the settlement to the court and the public.

The Marcos wealth variously has been estimated from $1 billion to $5 billion. How much is it really, one must ask Sabio. "That’s just it," he shakes his head, "all these years the PCGG never really found out. And that’s another reason to negotiate."

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