ShareThisJuly 2, 2010 MANILA – Outgoing Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairman Camilo Sabio has put the blame on former Senate President and the first PCGG chairman Jovito Salonga for the government’s failure to fully recover the ill-gotten wealth of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his family and cronies
Sabio said contrary to common knowledge, it was Salonga that should be blamed for the Commission’s failure to recover the ill-gotten wealth despite the powers at his disposal in the aftermath of the 1986 EDSA People Power uprising that toppled the Marcos dictatorship.
“It was a historic failure that could be attributed to former Senate President Jovito Salonga. The only time it could have been finished was during his term,” Sabio told a late afternoon press conference at the United Coconut Planter Bank (UCPB) office in Makati City.
Sabio said that at the time, President Corazon “Cory” Aquino has dictatorial powers that Salonga could have utilized to recover all documents, traced the ill-gotten wealth and recover it if he “had only the political will” to do so.
From Feb. 28 to March 25, 1986, Aquino has dictatorial powers until the socalled “Freedom Constitution” was passed, he said. The PCGG was created by the revolutionary government of Aquino with the issuance of Executive Order No- 1 on Feb. 28, 1986 — Cory’s first legislative act as a revolutionary president.