Downright confusing

It can be downright confusing. First there is an announcement made by current PCGG chairman, Andy Bautista that the office tasked to run after the Marcos billions will now cease operating. It was then followed soon after by a statement from Malacanang that even if PCGG were to close shop, the hunt for the Marcos wealth would continue. And the third, which has been downplayed is that it will toss it to Congress to decide on the plan to wound up the work of PCGG. So which is which? It is clearly an admission of failure.

Frankly, most of those who knew more about the so-called hidden Marcos billions did not have any illusion that these would ever be found and seized. There have been some success on properties and dollar deposit accounts but these were not the substantial loot. It still lies at the bottom of Swiss bank vaults if we are to believe the story of the Almonte-de Guzman foiled Big Bird operation. President Corazon Aquino herself gave the order on Big Bird to recover the alleged $7.5 billion of hidden accounts and assets of President Ferdinand Marcos and his family in the Swiss banks. Gen. Jose Almonte said that we could have taken hold of at least $5 billion at the time when Swiss banks got the order to identify the Marcos deposits at the time. But the clandestine operation was stopped by the PCGG in Manila. In the end we got a piddling amount of $610 million held in escrow by the Philippine National Bank. The Swiss Supreme Court ruled that the Swiss deposits identified as belonging to the late President and his family should be held in escrow until the Philippine courts decide on the claims over the funds.

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It is my opinion that the search ended before it was begun. President Cory’s executive order no. 1 failed because of the lack of will coupled with a system that could enforce that will.

It had to do with the decision to use ordinary judicial processes to get at it. This would never have worked. Our justice system is fraught with inconsistencies. I would not disbelieve the accusation that the Marcoses and their defenders had methods of persuasion in their pocket.

Although this refers to the local justice system, the RICO case filed in a New York court did not do any better with more than 300,000 documents and dozens of witnesses to hand. The decision was simple and readily understood. As the New York presiding judge said “why should we try Mrs. Aquino’s case against the Marcoses here? She should have it tried in Philippine courts.” Or something to that effect. This was the cue that the jury acted upon when Marcos was exonerated.

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I interviewed then Sandiganbayan Justice Francis Garchitorena some time before he died. I asked him why for all the evidence brought before him, nothing seems to bring Marcos and cronies to task. This was the Aquino administration and you would expect that there would be the will to prosecute with so much fanfare about her Executive Order No. 1.

This was done in fits and starts and hardly a settling of scores. The trials of cases dragged on forever. He said it was decided very early on in the Aquino government that the new government would follow strictly the requirements of the rule of law and evidence. That was different from facts.

Having missed that opportunity to prosecute and convict the guilty why should we now wonder why the country is in such a mess. Marcos era crimes fester because of that failure.

The best thing the government can do now is make the best of a bad situation. The United Nations tribunal for war crimes in the Balkans, seeing the folly of continuing trials, has adopted a strategy of plea bargains. There was an attempt to do that during President FVR’s time but it came to naught and he was vilified instead for even suggesting it.

There are other ways short of exonerating the guilty but we should find a new legal strategy or we will never get out of the political stalemate of the post-Marcos period.

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“Some Are Smarter Than Others” by the late Ricardo Manapat came closest to making Marcos et al answer for that period in our history. He wrote it down, warts and all. The book could have been the basis to appoint a special judicial court that would bypass tortuous bureaucracy.

Manapat’s book was published at a period long before exposes of Marcos and crony wealth were considered fashionable. Too many were afraid of martial law. Still the pamphlet done in 1979 study was a success. It was surreptitiously distributed in Manila. Soon major newspapers in Asia, the United States, and Europe were quoting from it.

Ninoy Aquino, (the father) still in jail in Port Bonifacio, called it “the most explosive document to have rocked Manila.”

Manapat and company later came out with  expanded version. He said “it took more than 11 years of research and writing to do full justice to the topic.”

Something he said then might help us in our predicament on what to make of the PCGG and its failed operation.

“Since we had already clearly established the pattern of cronyism in Marcos’ regime with our 1979 study, it was no longer necessary to engage in further sensationalism. In our judgment, it was far more important to present a thorough account by setting the events in their proper historical and political context.

Our motivation in coming out with this book was to document what we believed to be the central aspect of Marcos’ regime. It was not our aim to malign the individuals mentioned in this study. Our purpose was purely historical in nature, and individuals were mentioned only in so far as their activities shed light on the history of the period.

Like the 1979 pamphlet, the book draws its title from a statement attributed to Imelda Marcos. Parrying criticisms of relatives who became overnight millionaires after her husband assumed absolute powers in 1972, Imelda countered:

“Sometimes you have smart relatives who can make it… My dear, there are always people who are just a little faster, more brilliant, more aggressive.” True then and true today.

So don’t expect anything when Malacanang says it will continue the search through the Department of Justice and Department of Finance. Huh!?!