CONGRESS should pass a law determining the fate of the billions of pesos in public funds stashed away by the Marcos family, President Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday as he confirmed talking with the late dictator’s eldest daughter, Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos, about a deal to return the ill-gotten wealth to the government.
“Congress must pass a law then provide the steps of how to recover [the money],” Duterte said in an early morning interview Sunday. “The President cannot [do it]… it has to be a law. And the law must come from Congress, not from me.”
“Congress must authorize it because that is money to be recovered by the government of the Philippines and that was the offer. That was the rationale of the governor when she offered it,” he added, referring to Marcos, who was in Davao City for a gathering.
Duterte added that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II will be the one to decide if the government would continue to pursue cases against the remaining members of the Marcos family following the negotiations.
If Congress decides to give him the powers to negotiate with the Marcoses, he said he will form a committee consisting of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor, the secretary of Finance, the commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the secretary of Justice to proceed with the talks.
Duterte added that he and the Ilocos Norte governor did not discuss the exact amount that would be returned to the government, but said he was open to the proposal to bring closure to the issue.
In a speech before newly appointed government officials last week, Duterte said the Marcoses told him that the late dictator stashed away billions in government funds “to protect the economy” and that he had thought of regaining Malacañang after his ouster in 1986.
Marcos, who ruled the country from 1965 to 1986, had amassed a fortune estimated at between $5 billion and $10 billion while in office, or up to 650 times more than his annual salary, based on an estimate by the Supreme Court and source documents provided by the Presidential Commission on Good Government.
In the same interview, Duterte accused the PCGG of doing nothing to recover the remaining ill-gotten wealth as he shot back against suggestions made by former PCGG chairman Ruben Carranza, who led the agency from 2001 to 2005, who said that the government doesn’t need to negotiate with the Marcos family since there is already a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that states that the Marcoses legally earned only $300,000 from 1965 to 1986.
“Why is Carranza being boastful? There was money which was already returned, but what have you done?”
“PCGG … just because you recovered a few millions there, you claim you’re doing your work? But why did you fail to look into the ones being offered now by Imee?” he said in Filipino.
The President said Imee Marcos did not admit that the money was ill-gotten.
Over the last 30 years, the government has recovered at least P170 billion (nearly $3.6 billion) in cash but the total recovery efforts could reach over P200 billion ($4.2 billion), as the PCGG winds up its work to sell the remaining illegally acquired assets in its possession.
The President brushed aside rumors that the offer was a move to aid Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s alleged plan to run for president.
“I don’t care about that. In five years I will no longer be at the political scene,” Duterte said.
Earlier, Aguirre said that a possible compromise agreement with the Marcos family might be sealed in exchange for the return of their so-called ill-gotten wealth.
Aguirre, who exercises administrative supervision over the PCGG, said a compromise agreement would need further study as the deal would have repercussions on the cases filed against them.
He also said the plan of the President to form a new agency to replace the PCGG should be taken into consideration, since it would take another two years to completely wind up its operations as the commission is still holding more than P200 billion in sequestered money and assets.
Former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Sunday said the return of some of the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth does not mean they will no longer be accountable for the human rights violations committed during the term of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.
In an interview on radio dzBB, Pimentel said he was worried that the return of a portion of the amassed wealth may be set as a condition for the Marcoses to be pardoned.