PCGG spent P7B to recover P164B in ill-gotten wealth

To date, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has recovered $4 billion (P164 billion) of the $10 billion worth of real estate, investment bank accounts, and shareholdings said to be stolen by the Marcoses and their cronies. This while only spending P7 billion on operations. In a recent episode of the GMA News TV program "Bawal ang Pasaway kay Mareng Winnie",  PCGG chairman Andres Bautista and Commission on Human Rights chairwoman Loreta "Etta" Rosales discussed what the PCGG has done so far and what the agency needs from other sectors in order for the agency to do its job more effectively. The PCGG was formed in 1986 as part of then-president Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s first Executive Order with the mission of recovering all of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and its cronies. The ratio of P7 billion spent to P164 billion recovered makes Rosales believe the agency should continue with its mission. There are around 9,539 human rights victims, according to Rosales who is herself a human rights victim, and each of them are due about P1 million from the recovered assets. The PCGG itself believes that Martial Law human rights victims deserve this compensation. “Yung P164 billion [that has already been recovered], nasa national treasury na at pwedeng gamitin para sa coconut farmers, Agrarian Reform, human rights,” Bautista said. About $5 billion (P201 billion) worth of ill-gotten wealth has yet to be recovered, an amount equivalent to the cost of building 423,000 classrooms. In contrast to Rosales, Bautista sees various challenges that make the agency’s job of recovering the remaining $5 billion even more difficult to fulfill. The official had gone so far as to recommend to President Benigno Aquino III that the commission wind down its operations, and transfer its work to the Justice Department. Ultimately, both Bautista and Rosales believe that if only the PCGG received sufficient help and support from other sectors, it would be able to effectively accomplish its mission. Rosales said that the CHR has a key role play in assisting the PCGG. “Yung mga evidence na nandiyan, hahabulin. CHR should help bring out yung mga kaso,” she added, saying the CHR’s job is to monitor the Martial Law-related cases. “Hindi pwedeng isa lang ang gagawa, PCGG has to be helped. CHR should be helping in ways it can, civil society groups should make a lot of noise also,” Rosales aslo said. — Ria Landingin/DVM, GMA News