PCGG execs: Why not abolish Senate?
By Alcuin Papa, Veronica Uy
Inquirer, INQ7.net
Last updated 10:49pm (Mla time) 09/20/2006
(UPDATE) INSTEAD of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, why not abolish the Senate instead?
This was the reaction of PCGG Commissioners Ricardo Abcede and Nicacio Conti to opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel’s move to revive a bill proposing the abolition of the commission that was formed to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his family and his cronies.
“It’s really up to Congress. I don’t want to cling to any position. But let us compare our records. Maybe it is the Senate that should be abolished, not the PCGG,” Abcede said.
Conti pointed out that since it was established in 1986, the PCGG has remitted around 60 billion pesos to the National Treasury.
He said that during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the PCGG recovered 35 billion pesos, or more than half of the total amount recovered since 1986, outperforming all previous administrations in ill-gotten wealth recovery.
The PCGG also won a string of vital cases against the Marcoses and their cronies, including those on the Swiss accounts, the coconut levy fund, and the disputed shares of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. which will generate around 25 billion pesos for the government, he said.
Conti said the commission has also handed over several thousands of hectares of agricultural lands to the Department of Agrarian Reform for distribution to landless farmers as beneficiaries.
By comparison, Abcede said that out of 2,200 bills filed by the present Senate, only nine have been passed into law.
“How dismal can you get? There are endless investigations supposedly in aid of legislation instead of meaningful legislation to uplift our country,” he said.
He also cited a statement of Senator Edgardo Angara that the present Senate was “the least productive in the last 20 years.”
The PCGG performs a vital task “going against powerful and even dangerous people. We are small and simple public servants doing what is right,” Abcede said.
He pointed out that it has a long list of accomplishments achieved with a meager budget, “smaller than the pork barrel of any legislator.” With a report from Christine Avendaño
By Alcuin Papa, Veronica Uy
Inquirer, INQ7.net
Last updated 10:49pm (Mla time) 09/20/2006
(UPDATE) INSTEAD of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, why not abolish the Senate instead?
This was the reaction of PCGG Commissioners Ricardo Abcede and Nicacio Conti to opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel’s move to revive a bill proposing the abolition of the commission that was formed to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his family and his cronies.
“It’s really up to Congress. I don’t want to cling to any position. But let us compare our records. Maybe it is the Senate that should be abolished, not the PCGG,” Abcede said.
Conti pointed out that since it was established in 1986, the PCGG has remitted around 60 billion pesos to the National Treasury.
He said that during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the PCGG recovered 35 billion pesos, or more than half of the total amount recovered since 1986, outperforming all previous administrations in ill-gotten wealth recovery.
The PCGG also won a string of vital cases against the Marcoses and their cronies, including those on the Swiss accounts, the coconut levy fund, and the disputed shares of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. which will generate around 25 billion pesos for the government, he said.
Conti said the commission has also handed over several thousands of hectares of agricultural lands to the Department of Agrarian Reform for distribution to landless farmers as beneficiaries.
By comparison, Abcede said that out of 2,200 bills filed by the present Senate, only nine have been passed into law.
“How dismal can you get? There are endless investigations supposedly in aid of legislation instead of meaningful legislation to uplift our country,” he said.
He also cited a statement of Senator Edgardo Angara that the present Senate was “the least productive in the last 20 years.”
The PCGG performs a vital task “going against powerful and even dangerous people. We are small and simple public servants doing what is right,” Abcede said.
He pointed out that it has a long list of accomplishments achieved with a meager budget, “smaller than the pork barrel of any legislator.” With a report from Christine Avendaño
No comments:
Post a Comment