House gives Calida more power

The House of Representatives voted last night to give more power to Solicitor General Jose Calida, who is still basking in his victory in having the Supreme Court oust its own chief justice, Maria Lourdes Sereno.

The House approved on third and final reading a bill transferring the powers and functions of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) to Calida’s office.

“This measure will make Mr. Calida one of the most powerful officials in this administration, if not the second most powerful after the President,” Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, one of 10 members who opposed the bill, said.

He said the approval of the proposed law could also result in the abandonment by the government of efforts to recover the remaining alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.

The PCGG was the first agency the late president Corazon Aquino created in 1986. It was tasked to search for and recover the famed Marcos wealth, estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars.

According to sources at the House, it was Calida who proposed the transfer of PCGG and OGCC powers to his office. Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is the principal author of the transfer bill.

Affected personnel would not be absorbed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) but would be asked to avail themselves of retirement with full benefits “due to redundancy.”

The bill provides that legal representation of the government, its agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations and officials and agents acting in their official capacity, would be assumed by Calida’s office.

It also provides that the OSG would be an independent and autonomous agency attached to the Office of the President.

Calida’s victory at the Supreme Court in questioning Sereno’s qualification could lead to the dismissal by the House of the impeachment case against the ousted chief justice, if the high tribunal sustains its decision in the event Sereno appeals it.

Some senators have said the decision has robbed them of their power to conduct an impeachment trial.