The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is set to give President Noynoy Aquino a 100-day report suggesting its own abolition by 2013.

The PCGG was originally created by former president Corazon Aquino to recover ill-gotten wealth reportedly accumulated by the Marcoses during the Martial Law period.

According to PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista however, after 25 years in existence the commission has been unable to bring "closure" to the Filipino people. He said that “winding down” the PCGG’s operations may be a way of giving people closure.

Bautista added that the group can turn over its operations, as well as its sequestered Marcos properties, over to the Department of Justice (DOJ) within two years.

Bautista added that another option would be for the PCGG to continue functioning by taking over the duties of the Truth Commission which Aquino created through Executive Order 1. The Truth Commission, which was set to investigate the controversies during the Arroyo administration, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC).

But should the abolition of the PCGG push through, Bautista suggested the creation of an Institute for Good Governance to take over the PCGG’s mandate of finding safeguards to prevent corruption. He added that such an institute would allow the government to “de-focus” on going after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

Lawmakers voiced their support for the PCGG’s abolition.

“[The PCGG] was always envisioned to be a temporary thing, and now how temporary is it? More than 20 years already,” said House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Belmonte added that the two years the commission would have left would “impose a deadline on those sitting in the agency.”

“They (PCGG) commissioners would do what they can in the next two years, instead of just rolling it, and saying we have all the time to do it. They would really have a sense of urgency in doing their jobs,” he said.

Senator Francis Escudero also agreed with the abolition of the PCGG.

“I agree to the proposal by the current PCGG officials. However, an audit and accounting of all the sequestered assets and its value at that time, especially those that have since been dissipated as well, should be made,” Escudero said. “This is important, to make public all the compromise deals the commission has made in the past. How much did the state gain or lose?”

Escudero added that the removal of the PCGG would mean one less weight on the country’s national budget.

“It’s one less funding for the government which really needs to judiciously appropriate funds to more important things such as education,” he added.