PCGG continues hunt for Marcos loot

Ill-gotten wealth found in another country

By Philip Tubeza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:30:00 02/02/2009

Filed Under: Crime and Law and Justice


MANILA, Philippines—With no more Marcos ill-gotten wealth cases pending in Switzerland, the Presidential Commission on Good Government is training its sights on another country where it believes it can recover “millions” more of the late dictator’s hidden booty, PCGG Commissioner Jaime Bautista said.

Bautista told the Inquirer that the PCGG in November was able to retrieve documents from a country, which he refused to name, that supposedly showed the presence of “millions” in alleged Marcos ill-gotten wealth.

“This is potentially very large, definitely in the millions, we’re talking about millions of US dollars,” said Bautista, adding that naming the country now could jeopardize PCGG efforts to recover the assets.

From the new documents,” we have found the basis to take action,” Bautista said without elaborating.

In November last year, it was reported that Liechtenstein had granted the Philippines’ new petition for legal assistance and the transfer to the PCGG of documents to trace ill-gotten wealth.

The PCGG’s previous petition in July 1987 was rejected by Liechtenstein. However, due to recent changes in Liechtenstein’s laws regarding mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, a new Philippine petition was granted last year.

The PCGG announced last month that it had won the last pending Marcos ill-gotten wealth case in Switzerland amounting to $8.6 million.

The victory came after the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in December dismissed the appeal of GEI Inc. filed on behalf of former Marcos associate Ignacio B. Jimenez, to prevent the transfer of the GEI account to the PCGG. The Swiss Court decision was final and executory.

“This is the last. There’s nothing more pending in Switzerland. But of course the freeze order on all Marcos accounts in that country is still in effect. So once a new account is discovered, we’ll go after it,” Bautista said.

The PCGG has recovered a total of P83.96 billion in Marcos ill-gotten wealth since it was formed in 1986 and has turned over the funds to the government’s agrarian reform program. Of this amount, around P26.5 billion was recovered after 2005.