On the hunt for Marcos' wealth -- again

On the hunt for Marcos' wealth -- again

MANILA: Haydee Yorac's appointment as the new chair of the
Presidential Commission for Good Government comes as a jolt. It
shocks us to be reminded that the PCCG is still around after 15
years of looking for the bulk of the late President Marcos' ill-
gotten wealth, with little to show for the effort.

The search has become like a tiger chasing its tail and ending
up biting it.

We have lost count of how many chairs the PCGG has had since
it was created. The records show, however, that the PCGG has had
nine chairs since February 1986 when Jovito Salonga assumed the
post.

The appointment of Yorac came amid fresh moves to have the
PCGG abolished. Sen. Sergio Osmeqa III is filing a bill seeking
its abolition. "Fifteen years after its creation, the PCGG has
produced little by way of accomplishments and actual results to
justify its continued existence," Osmeqa said in his bill.

He wants to transfer its functions to the Department of
Justice -- a transfer that does not ensure the recovery of more
Marcos wealth.

The latest episode in the search of the Marcos wealth was the
confirmation early this month by German and Philippine officials
that Irene Marcos-Araneta attempted to transfer several billions
in US dollars to a Deutsche Bank branch in Dusseldorf, Germany,
from the Union Bank of Switzerland.

The Swiss bank is alleged to hold the Marcos family's
laundered money. The Marcoses' laundered assets are now estimated
to reach US$13 billion. If this figure is accurate, then we have
an idea of how little has been recovered from the Swiss banks
which have so far handed over less than $1 billion worth of
Marcos assets to the Philippine government.

Yorac has a reputation for integrity and tenacity. These are
assets that served her well when she was a commissioner in the
Commission on Elections. She will probably need more than these
qualities to uncover more laundered Marcos wealth, let alone
recover them. She needs more than investigative zeal to penetrate
the mist that has wrapped the Marcos assets. The task that faces
her is as difficult as that of archaeologists deciphering the
secrets of the pharaohs entombed in pyramids.

Two new commissioners have been appointed to beef up Yorac's
team: Ruben Carranza Jr. and Victoria Avena. Both are lawyers.
They have given themselves a two-year deadline "to settle the
Marcos issue." We have no idea what the parameters are of the
"Marcos issue." Neither do we have a clue as to how much they are
targeting to recover.

The Marcos wealth is so complex, the laundering so convoluted
that a lawyer's training could come in handy for them to do a
good job. But more than that, the commissioners must also be good
detectives as well. While we wish Yorac success, following the
disappointments of the last 15 years, the new commissioners might
need more than two years to produce results. The next few months
will see them just getting acquainted with their job.

Even before the PCGG could put its hands on the bulk of the
Marcos laundered wealth, with the help of a mass of evidence it
has accumulated over the years, the government is confronted with
another plunder case.

This is, of course, the case filed by the Ombudsman against
deposed President Joseph Estrada. The Estrada plunder case casts
a shadow over the Marcos wealth quest, tending to make us forget
the Marcos hidden assets. Yorac's intervention could have the
effect of keeping alive interest in the search for the Marcos
hidden wealth.

It is too early to say if Yorac's appointment will give a
fresh new momentum to the efforts to recover much of the Marcos
wealth. Ahead of her lies the tangled path of negotiations with
the Marcos family over how much of discovered wealth goes to the
government and how much to the Marcoses. This has been a
sensitive issue with political implications.

Obviously, the all-or-nothing approach would end up with the
government gaining nothing. The question of sharing, which
involves policy decisions from the Macapagal administration, will
have to be addressed as one of the parameters of the PCGG's new
leadership.

-- Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network