Why PCGG is not remitting P127M from sale of Marcos asset
MANILA, Philippines—The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) continues to hold on to the P127 million it received from the sale two years ago of a sequestered Wack-Wack property due to “unresolved legal issues” with the city government of Mandaluyong where the commercial lot is located.
The 2,012-square-meter lot on the corner of Edsa and Berkeley Street near the MRT station was sold in 2011.
“As soon as these matters are resolved, the commission will immediately transmit (the proceeds) to the national treasury,” the PCGG said.
The agency tasked to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his relatives and cronies also admitted having withheld a sizable portion of the proceeds from the sale last year of three other sequestered properties in order to settle tax liabilities.
The PCGG said it had otherwise been faithful in transmitting all the assets it had recovered to the treasury.
“The government has not been deprived of the proceeds of the sale of surrendered or recovered assets as reported in a number of newspapers,” it said in a statement.
“There are procedures and requirements that have to be complied with before proceeds of a sale are remitted to the national treasury. These factors, which may result in a delay in the transmittal of proceeds, include, among other things, the final determination of taxes and other unresolved legal issues with the locality where the property is located,” the agency said.
The PCGG headed by Chairman Andres Bautista has so far privatized four sequestered properties, including the Wack-Wack property, which sold for a total of P477 million.
The three other properties that were bid out last year were the Hans Menzi compound and the Banaue Inn in Baguio City and the Mapalad property on Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque City.
From the P93-million sale of the 3,875-square-meter Hans Menzi compound, the PCGG retained P23 million for “the final determination of taxes, other liabilities and expenses.”
From the P10-million sale of the 2,677-sq m Banaue Inn compound, the PCGG held back P2 million for taxes and other liabilities as well.
The PCGG also admitted withholding a portion of the P247.11 million from the sale of the 4,038-sqm commercial and residential Mapalad property, but did not say how much.
The agency said only the proceeds from the sale of the Wack-Wack property had not been turned over to the national treasury due to unresolved legal issues with the Mandaluyong city government.
“As soon as these matters are resolved, the commission will transmit (the proceeds) to the national treasury… as it immediately did with the P56.5 billion in coco levy funds after the Supreme Court ruled with finality that the funds were conclusively owned by the government in trust for the farmers,” it said.
It was referring to the P56.5 billion the PCGG reported taking in last year from the 24 percent bloc of contested San Miguel Corp. preferred shares that the Supreme Court ruled had been purchased with coconut levy funds.
The PCGG said that another P13.7 billion of the dividend payments held in escrow as well as the accrued interest by the end of 2012 were also turned over last year.
The PCGG remitted P567 million in 2012 and P268.4 million in 2011 to the national treasury.
As of the first half of this year, the PCGG said it had remitted P284.4 million to the treasury. The PCGG said its target is P450 million in remittances this year.
The presidential order that created the PCGG in 1986 mandates that all proceeds from the recovered ill-gotten assets of the Marcoses and the others are to be used for the agrarian reform program.
