Saturday, August 11, 2007 Good gov't official berated, told to return car
JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. on Friday unceremoniously ordered Commissioner Ricardo Abcede of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to return a high-end Toyota Camry car supposedly provided to him by the sequestered firm, Philippine Communications Satellite Corporation (Philcomsat).
The order was given by Gonzalez following the courtesy call made by officers of the PCGG following its transfer of supervision from Malacañang to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a bid to pursue the recovery of alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.
"Return that car to Philcomsat and don't touch it with a 10-foot pole. Do not use that case. Completely dissociate from anything coming from them, until this case is resolved," Gonzalez told Abcede when the official tried to justify how the car came to be in his possession.
During the introduction of PCGG officials, Gonzalez acknowledged Abcede's presence as "the famous" commissioner, betraying that he has heard about the Camry car.
Gonzalez said he will leave it up to PCGG chairman Camilo Sabio to decide on the fate of Abcede as government nominee in the sequestered firm, adding that there should be a reshuffle among the nominees. "He's still there (in the PCGG), it's up to Sabio. There has to be a reshuffle," he said in an interview after the PCGG meeting.
At the press conference, Abcede, one of the state nominees in the firm, said the official receipt and certificate of registration (ORCR) of the Camry was with the Philcomsat board, which as early as 2003 has passed a resolution to purchase a car.
"They allowed me to use that care on certain occasions, but ownership and possession of that car has always been with Philcomsat. I don't really need that car. I have two cars, my personal car and the official car. The thing is, there are two warring groups in the Philcomsat who have bloated this issue," he said.
Gonzalez said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave him specific orders to immediately resolve the row in the Philcomsat, the satellite technology pioneering company ran by the late billionaire Potenciano Ilusorio, said to be a Marcos crony.
"We are looking towards progress in the report of the PCGG in its mandated role under the Constitution to reacquire all ill-gotten wealth, that's the starting point. Philcomsat is one of the biggest problems faced by the PCGG. There's a do-or-die battle going on there," he said.
He said names have been submitted to him as to who will be in the board of directors of Philcomsat, but added that the squabble between the camps of Enrique Locsin and Victor Africa of the satellite corporation should be decided by law.
Africa heads the Philippine Overseas Telecommunications Corporation (POTC), which is 35 percent owned by the government through the PCGG.
On the other hand, the Philcomsat Holding Corporation (PHC) whose board is led by Locsin is 80-percent owned by Philcomsat. Both PHC and Philcomsat are owned by POTC whose shares were sequestered during the term of former President Corazon Aquino on suspicion that these were part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.
"We are reviewing the names, those people with cases, with millions of dollars or estafa charges. What I want to do is just to start with an inventory of cases. We want to pinpoint who are the officers who are truant from the beginning. I was a Tanodbayan before I know who have done wonderful jobs at the PCGG before. I was part of those who drafted this PCGG thing," said Gonzalez.
"When I do a job, I don't mind if I get fired. I'm not afraid of being fired, I can survive as a lawyer. I always get fired when I get sick. But the President has given me work to do, and I will do it without violating the rule of law. So don't embarrass the PCGG. Don't embarrass me on matters in your confine," he added.
Gonzalez vowed to go after truant officials of the PCGG but said the cooperation of the public is necessary. "We have to identify them first."
Besides Sabio and Abcede, attending the meeting at the DOJ were Commissioners Tereso Javier and Nicasio Conti, Ambassador Jaime Bautista, consultant for foreign litigation, and Jay Miguel, director for the legal department.
Conti said that since the creation of the PCGG in 1987, it has recovered as much as P82- billion allegedly ill-gotten wealth from Marcoses and the cronies, 70-percent of which were obtained during the term of Arroyo.
However, this amount is still far from the P200 billion that still has to be recovered by government out of pending 519 cases lodged before the Ombudsman, Sandiganbayan and the Supreme Court. (ECV/Sunnex)
