P90 billion from Marcos' assets recovered - PCGG

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has recovered at least P90 billion from deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ family and allies, a government official said yesterday.

Narciso Nario, commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), said this disproved accusations by some legislators that his agency should be abolished because it was not doing its job.

“We were able to recover P90 billion in cash and other assets including land and houses that were part of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth since the PCGG’s founding,” he said.

The PCGG was created in 1986 to recover assets from Marcos and his allies following the popular revolt in February of that year which deposed him.

Nario cited the recovery last month of P261 million in cash dividends from a Philippine telecommunications firm that the courts recently ruled were illegally acquired by Marcos cronies.

Marcos ruled the country from 1965 to 1986, much of the time under martial rule, during which he allegedly enriched himself, his family and his allies through massive graft and corruption.

Marcos died in exile in 1989 but his family has regained some of its political prominence.

No one knows just how much Marcos and his associates stole, and estimates vary from P5 billion to P10 billion, much of it hidden in overseas bank accounts, including some in Switzerland.

After Marcos was overthrown, the Swiss government froze assets and $683 million in his accounts.

Most of these assets were eventually transferred to the Philippine government but a full recovery has been complicated by the fact that much of it has been deposited in accounts held by former Marcos associates.

PCGG execs reconcile

Meanwhile, the feud among PCGG officials led by Chairman Camilo Sabio had apparently been resolved after the commissioners showed camaraderie during the agency’s 23rd anniversary celebration last Monday held at the open court of the IRC building complex along EDSA in Mandaluyong.

The late afternoon celebration saw the first public appearance of Sabio with former officer-in-charge Nario, with no trace of enmity as they sat beside each other at the presidential table.

During the lengthy program where loyalty awards were given to 10- to 20-year PCGG employees, Sabio and Nario were seen talking and whispering affably.

Also at the table were Commissioners Ricardo Abcede, Tereso Javier, and Jaime Bautista as well as Justice Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda, who stood in for the guest of honor, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.

Sabio and Nario engaged in a bitter word war late last year when Nario questioned Sabio’s early return to his post after going on indefinite leave of absence to attend to the disbarment case initiated against him by the Supreme Court for his involvement in the Court of Appeals bribery case.

Sabio, when asked about the working relationship among the top officials of the commission, said that everything was fine at the PCGG and they continue to do their work in pursuing the ill-gotten wealth cases of the Marcoses and their cronies, and looking after and disposing of the sequestered assets.

“I’m happy. And we continue to work harder. We do our best,” Sabio said.