MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III backed proposals to abolish the agency tasked to recover the billions of pesos plundered during the Marcos dictatorship and transfer its powers to the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).

Pimentel said the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had been recovering the assets since 1987 and should now be merged with a regular agency of government.

He added PCGG “does not have to exist on its own.”

“Yes because they’ve been trying to recover wealth since 1987. It’s been a long time already. We will continue to recover, but let us put it under a regular agency of government. It does not mean that the specialists will be gone, they can be absorbed in the OSG,” Pimentel told reporters in a mix of English and Filipino on Wednesday, May 16.

The OSG is headed by a known Marcos loyalist, Solicitor General Jose Calida.

Asked about the risks of this, Pimentel said: “Eh nakatingin ka kasi sa personalty, nakatingin kami sa structure (You are looking at personality, we are looking at structure). We are reorganizing government, and once we reorganize government, your assumption is this will be the structure for decades, if not centuries. So hindi tayo nakatingin sa personality (We are not looking at personality).” 

Senator Richard Gordon, chair of the justice committee tasked to hear the proposals, said he is so far againt abolishing the PCGG.

“At the moment I dont think you should abolish it, that is my disposition, because you need a special team to go after these people pero kailangan i-motivate sila na bilisan nila (but they have to be motivated to move faster). Bigyan mo sila ng timeline para mabilis kasi kung kulang sa abugado nila, hindi nila magagawa talaga ‘yan (Give them a timeline because if they lack lawyers, they really could not do it fast),” Gordon said in an interview.

“It should be independent. If you let it be absorbed, it would just be lost. Adding more burden to [Calida’s] position will not give it the necessary focus that we’d like to have,” he added in a mix of Filipino and English.

On Tuesday, May 15, the House voted 162-10-0 to approve House Bill 7376, which seeks to strengthen the OSG by increasing its powers and functions, by absorbing the functions of the PCGG and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC).

Opposition

Opposition senators opposed the measure. Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said there would be difficulties if the PCGG is merged with the OSG. He, however, said he is open to hearing the argument of the other side.

“I oppose it. I am taking into position that there will be difficulties if we abolish the PCGG and the OGCC, but I want to see how the report comes out. Unless they can show that the functions of the PCGG can be effectively performed by other agency, we should maintain the PCGG in my view, but I am willing to listen to the debate,” Drilon said.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV vowed to block the measure and said the measure is meant only to expand the powers of Calida.

“That’s one of the bills I’ll block…. For me, what’s the reason? Was there a catastrophe that occured within the status quo? There’s none. They just want more power for Calida,” he said in Filipino.

Since its establishment in 1986, however, the PCGG has been under fire for taking too long to recover the illegal wealth of the Marcos family. The PCGG itself has been criticized for being a breeding ground for corruption.

The bid to abolish the PCGG is not unique to the Duterte administration, however.

Various politicians over the years wanted to dissolve the agency. They included ex-senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr (father of the current Senate President) and Sergio Osmeña III (who was jailed during martial law), and even former president Benigno Aquino III’s appointed PCGG chief Andres Bautista, among others. – Rappler.com