De Lima assigns temporary heads of PCGG, BI

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday has assigned temporary heads for the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI), two agencies her department is supervising. Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras III will be the officer-in-charge of the PCGG, the body formed more than two decades ago to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, his family, and cronies. Justice Undersecretary Jose Salazar will be the officer-in-charge of the BI, after its former head, Marcelo Libanan, submitted his resignation. "I have designated Chief State Counsel Paras as the OIC until July 31. I designated Undersecretary Salazar as the OIC of the BI," De Lima said at a news briefing. Earlier, De Lima said her department is carefully studying the list of those who are next-in-rank and most senior officials of the PCGG. Malacañang issued on June 30 Memorandum Circular No. 1, declaring vacant all top government positions occupied by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointees who are not career executive service officers (CESOs). All the vacant positions will be taken over by the most senior CESO in each affected agency. They will act as officer-in-charge until July 31, 2010 or until a replacement has been appointed, the memorandum said. At a briefing in Malacanang last week, De Lima also said she is looking into cleaning the ranks of the PCGG and pushing for the appointment of new faces. The PCGG was the very first agency created by the late president Corazon Aquino when she assumed power in 1986. Its first commissioner is former Senator Jovito Salonga. In 2008, the PCGG was embroiled in a controversy when its former chairman, Camilo Sabio, was accused of incurring about $1 million in travel expenses. As of this year, the commission has recovered about P95-million worth of ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses, PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede said last week. –VVP, GMANews.TV