PCGG VOWS TO MAKE UP FOR SINS OF PREVIOUS MANAGEMENTS
MANILA, MARCH 2, 2011 (STAR) By Rainier Allan Ronda - Twenty-five years after it was created to go after the Marcos ill-gotten wealth, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) seeks to redeem itself in the eyes of the public.
Lawyer Andres Bautista, (photo) PCGG chairman, vowed to lead the agency's move to "right the wrongs of the past."
Bautista said nothing was really lost with pending cases involving potential recovery of about P250 billion of the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by the heirs and cronies of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
Speaking to reporters at the PCGG 25th founding anniversary photo exhibit in Makati, the former dean of the Far Eastern University College of Law said the PCGG has so far recovered P93 billion in assets from the Marcoses and their cronies.
"The record shows that the PCGG has so far remitted P93 billion to the national treasury with an additional P250 billion still tied up in litigation," he said.
"Are these numbers good enough? We will let history be the judge as to the sufficiency of our efforts. And while it chalked some big wins in its 25-year record, the PCGG, admittedly, had its share of losing.
"In hindsight, it could have acted more vigilantly and with a stronger sense of urgency. It could have guarded the interests of the Filipino people with greater fidelity.
"It could have been more participative by inviting the people that they, too, can contribute. Instead, it oftentimes acted in isolation, keeping the people uninformed."
In Executive Order 1 issued on Feb. 28, 1986, President Corazon Aquino tasked the PCGG to go after the loot of the Marcoses and their cronies.
Bautista said another avenue for the PCGG to redeem itself was through Malacañang's plan to give it the task to look into graft and corruption in past administrations.
"But with its kindred sibling, the Truth Commission, hanging by the legal ropes, it may yet get another title fight and a chance for redemption," he said.
Bautista has proposed that the PCGG be transformed into an Institute of Good Governance.
Aquino: No martial law
The dark days of authoritarian rule under the late strongman Marcos will never find a place in his administration until June 2016, President Aquino assured the public yesterday.
The only son and namesake of democracy icon Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and his wife, the late President Cory Aquino, gave this assurance during the 25th anniversary of the Presidential Security Group, which was formed in 1986, after the People Power revolt. – With Delon Porcalla
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