Dissolving Good Government
     In light of the current administration’s misguided attempts to dissolve the Presidential Commission on Good Government, here is a simple info graphic that would highlight just how wrong this move is.
     “The cheapest revolution in History.”
     This was how the then President Corazon Aquino described the 1986 People Power revolution in a joint session of the United States Congress in 1986. These words were immediately followed by vigorous laughter and applause, by senators and congressmen, directed towards the little lady in yellow that single handedly restored the will and freedom of her people from the grubby and greedy hands of a dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.
She said, “A government threatened by arms, will fight back with arms. And a government threatened with lies, will fight back with the truth.” And this in fact was just what she did.
Her first executive order as president was the formation of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which was mandated to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Former Dictator, his relatives, associates and close political and social circle. Also tasked to the commission was to exercise its powers to assist the president and the government in making sure that such graft and corruption does not happen again within this nation or by any of its people and public servants.
The PCGG was also tasked with the reacquisition, temporary taking over and privatization of such ill-gotten properties and remitting them back to the public. With its prerogative, it was also given special authorization to liaise with foreign governments and nationals, filing suits, special cases and claims, just to recover the money that was rightfully supposed to be for the public.
The Commission has since served its purpose. For over 30 years, it has been consistently awarded and recognized as the best performing agency within the Philippines. It has recovered over Php92.9 Billion pesos worth of paintings by masters, jewelry, real estate and cash, most of which hidden in foreign countries like Switzerland and the United States. The Commission has also recovered and put into record most of the receipts, testimonies and evidence that were later used in court and filed against the Marcoses and their associates.
Aside from the fact that all of the sequestered and recovered funds from the Marcoses were promptly returned to the treasury, there was even a portion that was set aside to assist the victims of what Former President Cory Aqiuno also described as a “holocaust”. Over Php10 Billion was put into the rehabilitation and grants provided to the victims of Human Rights Violations during the dictator’s regime. The commission has also assisted numerous individuals in with legal matters against the Marcoses.
As further evidence of its efficacy, it was noted in a report that in 2010, working with a budget of Php102 Million, the PCGG was able to remit the amount of Php14 Billion to the National Treasury. That is an astonishing return of Php137.00 for every peso spent.
As the commission is also tasked with assisting the president in safeguarding and preventing this from happening again, it has also taken steps against certain individuals against corruption and investigating other public servants.
Now this Commission is not without its flaws, there have been some setbacks and a few scandals during its term, however these, when checked in detail, pale in comparison to the work it has done as an agency. Let us all take into consideration that like with all agencies and departments in the government, there will be certain individuals within that organization who will not be up to the task or even fail and take advantage of the powers given to them. However let us not forget the immense work that the Commission has done in service of its people and is true to the responsibilities vested to it by the mother of our newfound freedom.
Let us also remember that like with all other Investigative Bodies in government and even in public, due process has to be followed, and this often times is not the fastest way. However, this is the best way; this is the constitutional way, the democratic way that we do things. So let us not put the blame on the agency that’s just following the letter of the law and their mandate.
Dissolution
Now, there have been some recent talks about dissolving this Commission and here are a few of my thoughts about this:
1. The president and many of his goons has said that the PCGG is a useless and outdated commission.
     - Not only is this statement completely baseless it’s also illogical. Considering the great amount of money returned to the public by this commission, how anyone would even think and say that it is useless is surely not familiar with math. What other agency in the country can return Php132 for every Peso spent. Absurd!
     Also, granted, the right to dissolve this agency is wholly reserved to the president as the head of the Executive branch, however has anyone ever considered the facts first before letting out this statement? Someone needs to get to work in the Malacañan and start reviewing the facts, instead of just checking their Facebook and Twitter every hour or so.
2. Its mandates and duties can be handled and passed on to the DOJ as a whole.
     - Has anyone recently tried to get an NBI Clearance? How “effective” and “streamlined” was the whole process? Now these are just one of the many functions of the DOJ, aside, of course, from actually serving justice.
     Of all the unfinished cases of this department, why would anyone even consider sacking thousands of employees simply to cut costs and leaving an ineffective and worse system than the one that we have in place?
3. (Lastly) It has served its purpose, it’s no longer needed.
     - Did you know that the United States Secret Service, before it was known as an elite group of crime fighters tasked to ensure the safety of the leader of the free world, was first tasked with protecting the US Currency under the Department of Treasury? They just did their jobs so well and the FBI could not handle the task of protecting the president at the time that’s why they were the ones asked to do it instead.
     Now is the Philippines stepping in the opposite direction? Sure, the PCGG was originally mandated to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses but it was also tasked to investigate other people and public servants that may be committing graft and corruption and ensure that nothing of the sort ever happens again. So, with all those said, I guess it’s safe to assume that the PCGG is not ONLY and EXCLUSIVELY against the Marcoses, but everyone else actually.
     We already have this agency that takes care of this particular task, as the name says, Presidential Commission on GOOD GOVERNANCE, let’s not waste it. It’s already there. Let us not wait for the time that after dissolving it, we’ll go and complain about needing it.
     So I guess it’s safe to say where I stand on this issue. I means seriously who would want to dissolve an agency with that cool of a name? The headline of “Commission on Good Governance – dissolved by Pres. Duterte” doesn’t really strike a good tone to me nor would it sound good to the international community. The return of the dictatorship is what it sounds like to me.
 -THE FREEDOM WRITER-
July 29, 2017