Alvarez to Marcoses: Return all wealth

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday expressed hope that the Marcos family would return the entire, and not just a portion, alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Alvarez made the statement in a press conference after President Rodrigo Duterte said the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos would be willing to return some wealth accumulated during the strongman’s two-decade rule.

“Huwag sana yung kapiraso lang. Sana yung buo na,” Alvarez said in the briefing.

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

Alvarez then scored the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which he wanted abolished, for its alleged failure to go after the Marcos wealth.

Alvarez earlier proposed dissolving the commission and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, and putting these under the Office of the Solicitor General, headed by a known Marcos supporter Jose Calida.

READ: Despite support for Marcoses, Calida says he can go after hidden wealth 

“Yan ang problema ng PCGG. Hanggang ngayon, ang daming kaso na walang nangyayari. Kaya nga may proposal to abolish the PCGG. In fact, ako in favor ako diyan. In fact, ako’y nagfile ng bill na yung PCGG gawin nang sa ilalim ng Office of the Solicitor General para may mangyari,” Alvarez said.

In his speech on Tuesday, Duterte said “The Marcoses, I will not name the spokesman, sabi nila (they said), ‘We’ll open everything and hopefully return yung mga nakita na talaga (those that had been discovered).’”

READ: Marcoses willing to return part of wealth, says Duterte 

“Sabi nila na, malaki ang deficit mo, maybe the (sic) projected spending pero hindi ito malaki baka makatulong, but we are ready to open and bring back, sabi niya, pati yung a few gold bars (They said that, your deficit is high, maybe the projected spending but this is not big, maybe it will help, but we are ready to open and bring back, they said, even a few gold bars),” he added. CBB

READ: Duterte: Marcos family willing to open, return ‘wealth in question’