Gov’t bent on retrieving ‘pork’ commissions—Palace

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Retrieving ill-gotten wealth is difficult but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be done, Malacañang said Wednesday.

“Although there are challenges and obstacles… the government is determined to implement the law,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said, in response to the earlier statement of Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairman Andres Bautista.

Coloma explained that the PCGG, in an earlier interview, stated that recovering alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles’ ill-gotten wealth would be difficult because of their previous experience with the family of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

He acknowledged that the PCGG is still struggling to recover all of the supposed ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses almost three decades since they started their work in 1986.

Nevertheless, Coloma said that as long as it is in accordance with the law, the government will do everything to retrieve stolen wealth from anyone and not just Napoles.

The PCGG has said that it is more difficult to recover the ill-gotten wealth of private individuals like Napoles compared to public officials.

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