Not even God can pressure me –Yorac

She almost refused the job because of the "horror stories" she heard about the agency, but newly designated Presidential Commission on Good Government Chairwoman Haydee Yorac said yesterday the PCGG’s pursuit of the fabled Marcos wealth remains non-negotiable.

Under her watch, the PCGG can never be pressured by anybody, "not even God," Yorac said at her first press conference.

"The PCGG is committed to pursuing the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies. The PCGG is determined to follow all leads and do all the legal and possible ways to achieve this goal," she added.

Yorac admitted that she was "hesitant" to accept the position when it was offered to her by President Arroyo because of the "horror stories" about the PCGG.

"It was with much hesitation. It’s been a long time (since the PCGG was formed) and so many things happened and did not happen ... Even from a distant perspective, that’s problematic enough," she said.

And little by little, she is discovering how difficult her new job is: PCGG documents remain uncatalogued, and a number have in fact been lost.

"Evidence is important if you are taking a case to court. We need evidence that will stand up in court," she said.

The PCGG was created in 1986 by former President Corazon Aquino to recover the wealth allegedly embezzled by the Marcos family and their cronies from the country’s coffers.

The commission had estimated the ill-gotten wealth to range from $5 billion to $10 billion, but the figure has ballooned over the years due to interest.

Before they can retrieve the wealth, Yorac said the PCGG must get organized.

She cited for instance the volumes of documentary evidence kept in the vault of the Central Bank which have not been catalogued. A number of cases filed by the PCGG since 1987 were also found to be still in the pre-trial stage.

"Aside from the fact that we cannot easily find the documents, the PCGG does not even have a canteen. My office has no water supply and I may develop kidney failure soon," she joked.

The PCGG chief also noticed from the annual reports of past PCGG heads that there was never any formal turnover of documents. This left the succeeding leadership starting virtually from scratch.

"The first thing that we should do as a group is to conduct due diligence over the structure and over the responsibility of the commission," she added.

Yorac, however, refused to give any timetable for recovery. "There is no prescriptive period for the recovery ... and there are institutions that we don’t have control of, like the court."

Asked about the mounting calls for the PCGG’s abolition, Yorac appealed to the public to be more patient.

"Some of the ill-gotten wealth are well-hidden. But no matter how brilliantly layered these riches are, we’ll look for all opportunity to uncover and recover them. We are dedicated to quickening the process," she said.