Hontiveros says putting PCGG under OSG ‘sick, cruel joke’

Senator Risa Hontiveros.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

A “sick and cruel joke” was how Senator Risa Hontiveros described on Tuesday a proposal to put the task of recovering the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses under the office of a “Marcos defender.”

Hontiveros was referring to a bill filed in the House of Representatives that would streamline the functions of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and put them under the Office of the Solicitor General Jose Calida.

READ: Speaker’s bill wants OSG to pursue ill-gotten wealth cases

“It’s like letting a fox into the chicken house. That’s the essence of the government’s move to put the Solicitor General in charge of recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family,” she said in a statement.

“How can a Marcos defender recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses? This is a sick and cruel joke at the expense of martial law victims and the nation’s coffers,” the senator said.

Hontiveros then noted Calida’s “unimpressive track record of pursuing plunderers.”

“Lest we forget, this is the same Solicitor General who wants pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles acquitted from the Benhur Luy detention case, which could undermine the state witness’ testimony and severely weaken the plunder cases filed against public officials involved in the scam,” she said.

READ: SolGen Calida: Injustice done to Napoles

“From giving the late dictator a hero’s burial to its plan to abolish the PCGG, this is another attempt by the government to cover up the tracks of the Marcoses and revise their place in history,” added the senator, who is part of the minority group in the Senate. JE/rga