PCGG given free hand on compromise with Marcoses

Malacañang is giving the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) a free hand in seeking possible compromise agreements with the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to recover any ill-gotten wealth.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said yesterday PCGG Chairman Camilo Sabio and the other commissioners have the full confidence of President Arroyo in carrying out their task.

Ermita said the PCGG has not furnished his office with a report on their planned course of action in handling the Marcos cases but he was confident that Sabio knew what aspects of the proceedings required clearance from Malacañang.

"Other than those special cases, they are at liberty to make their own decisions," Ermita said.

PCGG officials, he added, must be able to do whatever "they think is proper in addressing the Marcos cases."

In an interview, Sabio also said yesterday that they do not need permission from Mrs. Arroyo to initiate compromise deals with the Marcos family and the late strongman’s cronies. He said the role of Mrs. Arroyo is to ensure that any compromise deal is advantageous to the people and the government.

"There is no need for a special action of the President... When the compromise is there and the President says nothing about it, then it’s good. However, if she deems that the agreement is not beneficial for the people and the government, then she can rescind it," he said.

The PCGG stressed that for a compromise deal to take shape, the parties involved, particularly the Marcoses, should first make full disclosure of their assets.

"I want honest-to-goodness details" of the Marcos assets, PCGG Commissioner Ricardo Abcede said in an interview over cable television news station ANC.

He said that aside from the reported wealth of the Marcoses amounting to P220 billion, the PCGG has information that there are also assets in Europe, the United States and "all over."

He assured that the government would have the upper hand in any compromise deal as it is up to the PCGG to decide "how much we should allow them to keep."

Abcede said he expects to meet with former First Lady Imelda Marcos’ legal counsel, lawyer Robert Sison, within the week to discuss details of the agreement.

Abcede said he is expecting criticism from the opposition and leftist groups but they should realize that the PCGG’s move to reach an agreement with the Marcoses is "for the country, President Arroyo and the government."

"The President is in favor of reconciliation. She’s been saying this since day one," Abcede said.

"I know I will get flak from many sectors but I know that you cannot satisfy everybody. I can defend this in Plaza Miranda," he added, emphasizing that this is not the first time that the PCGG had tried to strike a deal with the Marcoses.

He cited a previous agreement proposal discussed during the time of former commissioner Magtanggol Gunigundo but noted the deal did not materialize as it was blocked by then Solicitor General Frank Chavez.

As this developed, Bantay Marcos Wealth at Coco Levy (BMW-CL), a civil society watch group, has expressed opposition to the decision of Mrs. Arroyo to allow the PCGG to negotiate a compromise deal with the Marcoses.

They maintain that the issue on the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses, accumulated during Marcos’ tumultuous presidency, has already been settled by a Hawaii court that decided the assets were illegally acquired and stolen from the Filipino people.

"Following the course of simple logic and the judicial process as well, guilty parties should be held accountable before the law and to its countless victims. What was illegally taken should be returned to its rightful owners. By so doing, reparation has been made and justice rendered," they said.

They stressed that the same principle should also apply to the coco levy funds, which were reportedly stolen from poor Filipino coconut farmers.

A legal pronouncement has also been made by the Supreme Court on this issue in ruling that the fund belongs to the coconut farmers, not to San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, a Marcos crony.

The BMW-CL emphasized that instead of pursuing these out-of-court and "shady" negotiations, the PCGG should instead perform its mandated task.

"Make the guilty parties liable and retrieve what was stolen. Then we can talk about reconciliation," they said. — Aurea Calica, Sandy Araneta