PCGG chief: Imelda placed Marcos wealth at $1 trillion

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 20:42:00 05/03/2010 Filed Under: Elections, Politics, Graft & Corruption MANILA, Philippines -- It's the kind of fantastic wealth that could run the Philippines for almost 40 years or pay off its foreign debt 18 times. While dodging criticism for ?exploring? a settlement with the family of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Ricardo Abcede claimed on Monday that the dictator's widow Imelda confessed to keeping $1 trillion in an account in New York. Abcede said this twice in interviews over ABS-CBN's dzMM radio and ANC on Monday, as he defended his decision to pursue a settlement with the Marcoses to recover some P140 billion in ill-gotten wealth, instead of giving due course to more than 500 court cases against the Marcoses and cronies. Imelda Marcos, now running for Congress in the family's native Ilocos Norte, allegedly shared this over dinner with Abcede. ?How much really is their wealth? During our dinner, I said ?Ma?am this is what the people are asking.? "Without blinking...," she told me, ?Commissioner Abcede, in Citibank New York alone, the Marcoses have $1 trillion,? Abcede told ANC news anchor Tony Velasquez in a live interview. ?Now do we believe her or not? I don't know. Because on the one hand, she's saying she just depends on the charity of others, but here, it's fabulous wealth,? said Abcede. The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to call Abcede several times on Monday, but the commissioner could not be reached. Marcos' children Bongbong and Imee also could not be reached by phone. Lawyer Frank Chavez, solicitor general at the time the PCGG was created during the Aquino administration, however said such figure was just imagination. ?It exists only in her (Imelda Marcos') mind,? said Chavez. He said the ill-gotten Marcos wealth could not have reached a trillion dollars as their last estimate in December 1991 placed the total Marcos assets at $10 billion kept in several Swiss accounts. This amount could have doubled overtime through interest. The Marcoses still face criminal and civil cases for allegedly amassing wealth through stealing from the country's coffers until the dictator was ousted through a peaceful revolt in 1986. In response to a petition Chavez filed, the Supreme Court had nullified a 1993 secret deal where the PCGG agreed to drop cases and grant tax exemption to the Marcoses given a 75-25 split of the family's Swiss deposits. Abcede again justified his move to arrange a settlement saying ?this will be good for the country and for our people.? He said a deal would lead to ?less anxiety, no sleepless nights.? ?If revenge is in your heart, nothing will happen. You have to move on,? he told ANC. He scoffed at reports calling talks with the Marcos side a ?midnight deal? as he clarified that reaching a settlement would take a long process and discussed at several levels: the commission en banc, the Office of the Solicitor General, the Department of Justice and then the Office of the President. Chavez said equating the pursuit of cases against the Marcoses to revenge was a twisted way of looking at litigation. ?It is a distorted way of looking at it. He has thrown [the mission of the PCGG] to the dustbin. This is a betrayal of the raison d'etre of the the PCGG. Litigation is not about revenge. It is about justice,? he said. Abcede also cleared President Macapagal Arroyo of any role in his actions, saying seeking settlements was part of the PCGG's mandate. He explained that the PCGG had the ?duty to find ways of settling cases instead of pursuing them in court.? ?I don't need her (Ms Arroyo's) sanction. Nakikipagkwentuhan lang naman ako eh. Aabalahin ko pa ba si Presidente (I just swap stories. Do I need to bother the President)?,? he said. Abcede earlier expressed confidence that a deal could be reached before the end of Ms Arroyo's presidency, also the end of his stay at the PCGG, or during the term of the next President. But because ?hope springs eternal? for Abcede, he believes this could still happen by some miracle. ?On my own I can't [do this]. Well, unless a miracle happens. If the Marcoses suddenly say ?we are willing to donate all of our wealth maybe here or outside [of the country] for the good of the Filipino people,?? he said. But for Chavez, the PCGG Commissioner has to get reacquainted with what the commission was meant to do. ?He does not know what they?re talking about. He's the one seeking them (Marcoses) out. Where is the integrity in that? It seems like the PCGG was already captured by the Marcoses,? he said.