MANILA — A lawmaker has filed a bill that sought to abolish the commission tasked with recovering the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.'s family and transfer its functions to other agencies.

Manila Sixth District Rep. Bienvenido Abante, who proposed scrapping the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) through House Bill 4331, said the move would be in line with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s plan of "rightsizing" the government.

“We have many needs and finite resources. So akin (for me), let us allocate our budget where it can do the most good for the most number of Filipinos,” he told ANC.

Abante said the Department of Justice could "investigate and prosecute criminal cases previously handled by the PCGG," while its civil cases could be handled by the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel.

Meanwhile, the privatization office of the finance department could take over the management of sequestered assets and properties formerly controlled by the PCGG, Abante added.

The lawmaker said he did not believe that transferring the PCGG’s functions would lead to a loss of expertise.

• 'Goodbye recovery': PCGG abolition would mean end to Marcos wealth hunt, says group

“I don’t think so. The question also prevails like this ‘no: if we retain the PCGG, do you think with this new administration, the Marcos son is the president, that the PCGG will be totally objective in their investigation?” he said.

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The PCGG, created under the very first executive order of former President Corazon Aquino as soon as she replaced Marcos Sr. in 1986, was tasked to recover ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses whether located in the Philippines or abroad.

Funds returned to the government have been largely used for land reform and compensation for the victims of Marcos Sr-era human rights abuses.

As of 2020, the PCGG has recovered P174.2 billion in ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and is still running after P125.9 billion.

• Resolving ill-gotten wealth cases vs Marcoses may take 7 years: PCGG chief

The move to abolish PCGG could spell an end to these efforts, the Movement Against Disinformation earlier said.

"Goodbye recovery efforts... You are going to lose all the cases pending because the specialists, the lawyers who worked on this will all be gone," Atty. Tony La Vina, president of the movement, said.

• 'No policy' yet on possible revising, expanding functions of PCGG, says Palace

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