Lawmaker urges PCGG exec to resign for ‘waltzing’ with Imelda

Rep. Loretta Ann "Etta" Rosales urged lawyer Ricardo Abcede yesterday to quit his post as commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) for "waltzing" with former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos — literally, and on the ill-gotten wealth cases.

"He knows nothing about good government. All he knows is presidential commission," she told a news forum at the Serge Café in Quezon City.

Malacañang, however, sees nothing wrong with Abcede partying with Marcos, whom the PCGG is supposed to prosecute for alleged ill-gotten wealth.

"I cannot speak for him but in general it was a social event, it was his birthday," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said, referring to Abcede’s invite for Mrs. Marcos to attend his birthday celebration last week.

"I am not very familiar with the whole circumstances and I cannot comment for Abcede," Bunye said.

The Palace is backing Abcede’s proposal for a compromise deal with the Marcoses to end years of litigation and finally get back the money supposedly stolen by them.

Rosales said Abcede violated the principles of good government and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees by dancing with Mrs. Marcos at a recent social event.

Abcede has admitted inviting Mrs. Marcos to his recent birthday and dancing with her, saying he just wanted to have fun with his guests.

He also said he saw nothing wrong with his agency’s decision to talk to the Marcoses about a possible compromise on their alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Rosales, a human rights victim during martial law, said Abcede "has confessed in a recent television interview to being ignorant of the law and jurisprudence on the wealth of the Marcoses."

She said the Supreme Court has prohibited negotiations for a compromise with the Marcoses "because that would be legitimizing plunder."

"If Mr. Abcede does not know that, he has no right sitting in the good government commission," she said.

She pointed out that a large part of the famed wealth of the Marcoses, including hundreds of millions of dollars in Swiss deposits, had already been recovered by the government.

She stressed that the proper approach is to recover stolen wealth through litigation and not through a compromise.

Rosales raised suspicion that if a compromise were to be concluded, it might include even Swiss deposits that the Supreme Court of Switzerland had surrendered to the Philippine government.

If that happens, the Filipino people would be robbed twice or thrice over, she said.

House Majority Leader Edcel Lagman also scored Abcede for partying with Marcos.

"Commissioner Abcede should remember that, as a ranking official of the PCGG, he should not only be clean. Like Caesar’s wife, he should always appear to be completely untainted. He should be above suspicion," Lagman said.

Abcede was an obscure lawyer until the latter part of 2003 when he defended then embattled First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, whom opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson had accused of amassing about P260 million in secret bank accounts using the false name Jose Pidal.

Abcede sought out reporters covering the Senate then to give them copies of his statements in defense of the President’s husband and attacking Lacson. The First Gentleman disowned the alleged bank accounts and denied using the false name Jose Pidal.

Another lawyer, Jesus Santos of Bulacan, spoke for Mr. Arroyo. He continues to be his spokesman.

Santos was rewarded the juicy post of board member of the Government Service Insurance System, while Abcede was named PCGG commissioner.

In the same news forum, Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada, whose constituents are mostly coconut farmers, said the Arroyo administration is also planning a compromise settlement on the more than P100 billion in coconut levy collections made during martial law.

He said he could not understand why the government wants to give away the huge sum when it could be used to help millions of coconut farmers.

"Remember that these collections have already been declared by the Supreme Court and the Sandiganbayan as public funds," he said. — With Aurea Calica