House justice panel OKs bill giving PCGG's job to SolGen
MANILA — The House Committee on Justice approved yesterday a substitute bill proposing the abolition of the Presidential Commission on Good Governance, the body tasked to recover illgotten wealth from the family and allies of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Rep. Vicente Veloso (Leyte, 3rd District), head of the Subcommittee on Judicial Reforms, presented the substitute bill on strengthening the Office of the Solicitor General. Under the proposal, the functions of the PCGG and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) will be absorbed by the OSG.
He said that the subcommittee proposed the creation of a "Special Task Force with at least five divisions" that will perform the functions of the PCGG.
According to Veloso, there will be at least 50 lawyers from the OSG that will be tasked with recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies.
The PCGG was created in 1986, just days after the EDSA revolution removed Marcos from power. It is mandated to recover an estimated $10 billion looted by the dictator and his allies during his 20 years in power.
Solicitor General Jose Calida openly campaigned for the late dictators' son and namesake Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. when the latter ran for vice president in 2016. Marcos, a former senator, has a pending electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.
Calida, in an earlier statement, said that: "Consolidating the legal services under the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) will eliminate redundant, duplicative and overlapping functions since the OSG, OGCC and PCGG only serve one client – the Republic of the Philippines."
The OSG represented the government and the Marcos heirs when the Supreme Court heard, through oral arguments, petitions opposing the burial of the late dictator at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Veloso also said that the subcommittee tackled the concerns of employees and officials of the PCGG and the OGCC who will be affected by the merger.—