MANILA – A stronger Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) will continue to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the late strongman and former president Ferdinand Marcos, his family, and his cronies, Malacañang said on Thursday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this assurance following the House of Representatives’ approval of a measure seeking to abolish the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) to further strengthen the OSG’s powers.
Voting 162-10, the House approved House Bill 7376, or the proposed OSG Charter, which seeks to further strengthen the OSG by increasing its powers and functions, and redefining, expanding, and rationalizing its organization.
Under the bill, the PCGG and the OGCC shall be abolished and their respective powers shall be transferred to the OSG.
Roque rejected the statement made by Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV that the abolition of the PCGG will institutionalize revisionism. Aquino is the nephew of the late president Corazon Aquino who created the PCGG in 1986.
“Wala pong revisionism diyan dahil lahat ng katulungkulan ng PCGG ipagpapatuloy po ng Office of the Solicitor General (There’s no revisionism there because all the duties of the PCGG will be continued by the Office of the Solicitor General),” Roque said, noting that he did not consider this a “major change.”
He added that it was the discretion of the Congress and that President Rodrigo R. Duterte would respect it.
“Hindi naman po sa inefficient pero parang hindi na siya kinakailangan maging ibang ahensiya kasi nagawa na yung kabuuan ng katungkulan ng PCGG at kumbaga winding up at kaya na po ‘yan ng Office of the Solicitor General (I won’t say it’s inefficient but there is no longer a need for the PCGG to be a separate agency because its functions can be done by the Office of the Solicitor General),” Roque said.
Roque, meanwhile, shrugged off claims that Solicitor General Jose Calida cannot be trusted since he is a supporter of Marcos and his son, defeated 2016 vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
He expressed confidence that the lawyers of the Office of the Solicitor General do their jobs “with utmost professionalism.”
“Panatag ang loob ko na dedicated yung mga napaka daming abogado ng Office of the Solicitor General to do their job (I am confident that the many lawyers at the Office of the Solicitor General are dedicated to their jobs),” he added. (PNA)
