EDITORIAL – Just abolish it

Chairman Camilo Sabio of the Presidential Commission on Good Government opted for the usual way out of congressional detention, and the Senate obliged him. Sabio was allowed to go to the Makati Medical Center yesterday to undergo an executive checkup. He has promised to return to detention after two days, saying he wanted his case resolved by the Supreme Court. National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales had also opted for a medical way out when he was ordered arrested by the House of Representatives for refusing to identify the individuals or groups behind the Venable lobbying deal.

The Venable case remains unresolved. And the controversy that led to Sabio’s arrest may go the same way as yet another congressional investigation wraps up with loose ends and no resulting piece of legislation. The Senate committee on government corporations wants Sabio to explain the dissipation of funds of three PCGG-sequestered firms: the Philippine Overseas Telecommunications Corp., Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. and Philcomsat Holdings Corp. Sabio says the executive order creating the PCGG gives its officials immunity from facing legislative inquiries in connection with the commission’s work.

Sabio has taken the case to the Supreme Court, and senators appear to be awaiting the tribunal’s ruling. Pending resolution of the case and the results of Sabio’s executive checkup, lawmakers should start giving serious thought to something that should have been done a long time ago: abolishing the PCGG. Twenty years after democracy was restored, the ownerships of many firms seized after the first people power revolt remain unresolved. The boards of sequestered companies have become sinecures for supporters of the administration.

Twenty years after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, his flamboyant widow is a birthday guest of a PCGG commissioner, who seems proud of his efforts to negotiate a compromise with the Marcoses on their wealth cases. The hunt for ill-gotten wealth and the litigation of pending cases should be taken over by government prosecutors and investigators. The PCGG outlived its usefulness a long time ago. Instead of punishing the PCGG chief with detention, lawmakers should simply move to abolish his commission. <