Senator scores gov’t for assigning SolGen to recover ill-gotten wealth

Putting Solicitor General Jose C. Calida in charge of recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the late President Ferdinand Marcos and his family is like letting a fox into a chicken house.

That is the essence of the government’s move to put Calida the on job of recovering the remaining ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family since they were out of power 31 years ago, Senator Risa Hontiveros, an arch Marcos critic, said yesterday.

The attempt to recover the Marcos wealth that is said to run into billions of dollars started when then President Corazon C. Aquino, widow of the late Sen. Benigo Aquino Jr., took over Malacañang after the EDSA revolution in February 1986

There had been recoveries of ill-gotten wealth by the PCGG under different PCGG chairmen since then.

“How can a Marcos defender recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses? This is a sick and cruel joke at the expense of Martial law victims and the nation’s coffers,” said Hontiveros.

Hontiveros pointed out that the office of the Solicitor General has an unimpressive track record of pursuing plunderers.

“Lest we forget, this is the same Solicitor General who wants pork barrel mastermind Janet Lim Napoles acquitted from the Benhur Luy detention case, which could undermine the state witness’ testimony and severely weaken the plunder cases filed against public officials involved in the scam,” she said. 1300M earmarked for rights victims Meanwhile, the government has set aside 1300 million for the partial payment of the compensation of the initial 4,000 martial law victims in the country.

The fund request has already been transmitted by the Human Rights Victims Claims Board (HRVCB) to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) following the approval of the list of eligible claimants, Malacañang announced on Tuesday.

“The Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board (HRVCB) sped up process of evaluating and releasing of claims of Martial Law victims as part of its commitment to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s goal to expedite the release of the claims,” Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a Palace press briefing.

The Budget Department has acknowledged the request from HRVCB “for the release of 1300 million from the Bureau of Treasury intended for the partial payment of monetary reparation,” Abella added.

He said the board has transmitted to the Office of the Executive Secretary its resolution “approving their preliminary list of 4,000 eligible claimants and release of partial monetary reparation.”

Of the eligible claimants, 2,661 are “presumed victims” while 1,339 are new applicants. “The claims board following the point system prescribed the reparation law which came up with a total of 123,567 points to be awarded to the first batch of claimants. That should be sufficient,” he said.

The total reparation value for the human rights victims has reached 1589million. (With a report from Genalyn D. Kabiling)