In the Game: Late Newscast and Online News Explain What’s Behind the Abolition of the PCGG

Screengrab from news.ABS-CBN.com.

THE LATE night newscast and online news platforms prove their worth when these are able to add context to the latest news content.

Cheers to ABS-CBN 2’s Bandila and some online news sites for keeping up with the latest developments, complete with context and background to alert the public to yet another sign of the hold of the Marcos family’s influence on public officials.

Reporting on House Bill 7376, these reports included valuable discussion of the proposed abolition of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). Why should the public care? The PCGG has been mandated to recover ill-gotten wealth accumulated by the Marcos families and cronies.

On Tuesday, May 15, the lower house approved HB 7376. Among late night newscasts which aired reports on the matter, Bandila’s “Panukalang batas na layong buwagin ang PCGG, lusot na sa kamara” sought out a range of views about the effort to strengthen the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) by increasing its powers and functions.

The bill abolishes the PCGG and the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC), an oversight body of government-owned and controlled corporations, transferring the OGCC’s mandate to the OSG.

Reporter Mike Navallo sought the opinion of former Human Rights Commissioner Etta Rosales and Atty. Ruben Carranza, former PCGG commissioner. Rosales recalled that Calida sided with the Marcoses, especially on the issue of Ferdinand Marcos’ burial in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “Supporter ni Marcos yan, bakit siya hahabol?” (He is a Marcos supporter, why would he recover the ill-gotten wealth?), Rosales asked.

Carranza sees the move as completely predictable, noting that “the work of the PCGG will require specialized knowledge, full-time investigative capability and a deep understanding of history, all of those, Jose Calida does not have.”

In comparison, other late night newscasts provided reports simply describing the passing of the bill. But reporting HB 7376 requires a certain background and appreciation of what happened in the past. After the Marcoses fled in 1986, the new government established the PCGG to track and to recover the unexplained wealth of officials during the Marcos years, including hidden wealth of the Marcos family and other relatives.

Other notable reports were available online. Rappler and Philstar.com’s respective stories included other key provisions in HB 7376 such as: expansion of the OSG legal division, survivorship benefits for the SolGen, assistant SolGen and state solicitors and consolidation of legal representatives of all government agencies, among others (“House Oks bill abolishing agency hunting Marcos ill-gotten wealth”; “The proposed additional powers for the Office of the Solicitor General”). InterAksyon’s report noted Calida’s position on Marcos’ burial and that he was previously the head of the Alyansang Duterte-Bongbong during the 2016 elections (“The problem with giving the PCGG’s powers to the solicitor general”).

Since its establishment in 1986, PCGG has recovered at least PHP170 billion. A counterpart bill is pending in the Senate.

All this adds to citizen information in evaluating the bid of Bongbong Marcos for high office.