PCGG eyes full accounting of P168-B recovered Marcos ill-gotten wealth

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) wants to have a full accounting of the P168-billion ill-gotten wealth recovered from the Marcoses to determine how the money were used.

“Since the PCGG's creation in 1986, umaabot na sa P168 billion ang naire-remit namin sa Bureau of Treasury. We want to know where the money were used and how they were used,” PCGG chairman Andres Bautista told GMA News Online in a phone interview Friday.

Included in the P168 billion is the P70 billion recovered by the PCGG from the coco levy fund.

Bautista said the agency is willing to work with the Commission on Audit (COA) in doing the accounting. He also said the COA may conduct an independent audit.

“We in the PCGG have our own records kung saan-saan nagamit yung recovered wealth, but our record is not that comprehensive. Ang gusto naming malaman ay yung specific projects talaga, anu-anong agrarian-related projects ang naumpisahan na gamit itong recovered wealth na ito,” he said.

Bautista pointed out that it's not under the mandate of PCGG to account for the amount of recovered ill-gotten wealth remitted to the Bureau of Treasury (BTR), so it is more appropriate for a neutral agency such as COA to do the accounting.

Bautista said that based on their records, about P90 billion recovered ill-gotten wealth were already set aside or may have already been used for the implementation of Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)-related projects.

“Pero wala talaga tayong specifics, kung anu-anong mga projects ang pinaglaanan. Kaya nga sana ang COA mag-conduct ng full and comprehensive accounting,” he said.

Based on the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms (CARPER) law or Republic Act 9700, all assets recovered by the PCGG including proceeds from the sales of ill-gotten properties would be used to fund CARP-related projects except the amount of $356-million set aside under the law for the compensation of human rights abuse victims under Martial Law.

Under the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 or RA 10368, compensation for martial law victims shall come from the $356-million (then estimated at P10 billion) five forfeited Swiss bank accounts of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Bautista, however, said that based on PCGG's own record, aside from the P90 billion set aside or used for the implementation of CARP-related projects and the P10 billion for the compensation of Martial Law victims, about P4 to P5 billion of the recovered ill-gotten wealth the PCGG remitted to BTR also went to the Office of the President.

“Lumalabas sa record namin na may pumasok na about P4 billion to P5 billion sa Office of the President under the administrations of [Joseph] Estrada and [Fidel] Ramos,” Bautista said, without elaborating on how the PCGG was able to obtain such figure.

Under the law, all the assets recovered by the PCGG and proceeds from their sales must only be alloted to the implementation of CARP and compensation of human rights victims during martial law.

“Kaya nga gusto natin magkaroon ng accounting done by an independent body para din ma-validate itong record namin and also for the interest of the public,” Bautista said.

“Sa ganito kalaking halaga ng nairemit na namin sa Bureau of Treasury for the past 28 years, kailangan talagang busisiin ito,” he added. —KBK, GMA News