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BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
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Monday, September 4, 2017
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ILOILO – The Marcoses must return all their ill-gotten wealth to the government, not just part of it, according to Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr.
Defensor, a former commissioner of the President Commission on Good Government (PCGG), was reacting to reports that the family of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ready to return their wealth to the government, possibly through a settlement.
“They should return all. Giving up just a part of it and keeping for themselves the rest is not right,” said Defensor.
The Marcoses should also publicly bare all which they will return – money, jewelry, expensive properties, he stressed.
Right after the Edsa People Power Revolution in February 1986, President Corazon Aquino established PCGG through an executive order to recover “all ill-gotten wealth accumulated by…Marcos, his immediate family, relatives, subordinates and close associates, whether located in the Philippines or abroad.”
As of December 2015, PCGG had recovered over P170 billion ($3 billion) and filed 248 cases against the Marcoses and their cronies.
Defensor believed there is still more ill-gotten wealth yet to be traced, especially those that the dictator kept through dummies.
“Some of these could have been stashed abroad through complex bank transfers,” he said.
“Ila deposito sa bangko tama ka komplikado. May kwarta sila nga naghalin sa Japan (Bank of Tokyo), ginsaylo sa California Overseas Bank, nagsaylo sa Netherland Santiles (Carribean), dason ginbutang nila ang deposito sa dummy corporation (Aguamina Corporation)…to a bank in Switzerland,” he said.
It was in Switzerland, Defensor said, that PCGG was able to catch it and secure all the documents.
The total amount of money involved was something like $500 million, said Defensor.
“Gin-turn over ato sa Philippine government ang mga papeles kag amo ni ang gin-usar sang gobyerno in the forfeiture suit against the Marcoses,” he added.
According to the World Bank-UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, former President Marcos started amassing ill-gotten wealth from the government on his first year as President in 1965.
He was ousted by popular revolt in 1986 amid allegations of corruption and human rights violations. He died in exile in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1989.
The study revealed Marcos siphoned an estimated $5 billion to $10 billion in his 21-year regime./PN
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