MANILA, Philippines — Senator Richard Gordon sees a “lot of digging” before the Senate conducts a probe into the string of losses by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in pursuing civil cases against the Marcoses.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Gordon said the investigation will be scheduled when the Senate resumes session in 2020.
The Senate will go on Christmas break this Friday and resumes on January 20 next year.
“We will have to do our homework. There will be a lot of digging, you know. It’s not easy. Akala ng iba ‘O, imbestiga tayo’ (Others think ‘Let’s investigate’). We have to dig, because if you don’t dig, you don’t know what you’re gonna investigate,” Gordon, chair of the Senate justice panel and the powerful blue ribbon committee, said.
The Sandiganbayan recently junked another civil case against the late dictator, former President Ferdinand Marcos, and his family, involving P200 billion worth of alleged ill-gotten wealth, the of such suit the PCGG lost this year.
The anti-graft court’s Fourth Division dismissed the forfeiture case due to the inability of the prosecution to prove the allegations against the Marcos family.
“It brings a very bad perception of our country, when you have something as early that has made as early as what? ’87 or ’88. Ilang taon na ‘yan e, lampas lampas na ng 25 years yan, bakit hindi sila nakakahuli ng kahit anong malalaki,” he lamented.
“It brings a very bad perception of our country when you have something as early that has made as early as what? ’87 or ’88. How many years have passed, it’s been more than 25 years, why can’t they recover a big amount).
Asked whether or not the PCGG, which was organized in 1986 to recover the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses, should be abolished, Gordon said he “(does not) in believe in abolition”
“Kung maga-abolish ka ‘di magbabago ka na naman, ‘di ganun rin, maguumpisa na naman from scratch. You have to gather what has been gathered and get a guy who can say ‘Alright, ito nakalap natin, dito tayo pupunta ngayon.’ Hindi yung basta gibain natin. Walang nangyayari sa gibaan,” he said.
(If you abolish, you will have to change, you will start all over again and start from scratch. You have to gather what has been gathered and get a guy who can say ‘Alright, this is what we gathered, this is where we will move forward.’ We can’t just abolish. Nothing happens if you just abolish).
The executive can also pursue its own investigation on the matter, Gordon said.
“Well, it’s a responsibility of everyone, the Palace can initiate but the Senate is an independent arm of the country, we are a co-equal branch that’s why you have the blue ribbon,” he said.