Speaking to reporters at the weekly Balitaan sa Rembrandt Hotel yesterday, Lozano said PCGG records show that in 2006, the anti-graft agency has turned over to the Department of Agrarian Reform some P80 billion in sequestered Marcos wealth for use in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).
"We are asking for an accounting of the P100 billion Marcos wealth, but they gave us the list of the P82 million remittances to CARP," he said.
With the sale of sequestered PTI shares for P25 billion this year, the Marcos wealth in government hands is now more than P100 billion, he added.
Lozano, who is running under the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, which President Ferdinand Marcos set up in the 1970s during martial law, said Ermin Ernest Louie Miguel, PCGG legal department director, has furnished him a copy of the report which detailed the summary cash remittances to the CARP.
"But when we asked for the certified true copy of the report the amount has remained P82 billion, so where is the P18 billion?" he said.
Lozano said the PCGG did not confirm nor deny the existence of the P100 billion fund.
When he verified with the National Treasury if the amount is still with the government they were also given the run-around, he added.
Lozano said the missing money could be in the National Treasury and be diverted for use in the May 14 elections, just like what happened to the fertilizer fund in the 2004 elections.
He is challenging National Treasurer Omar Cruz to make public all the agency’s records before he leaves office in June, he added. – Perseus Echeminada