Manila: The government can enter into an agreement with the Marcos family for the return of the wealth they had taken from Filipinos without waiting for Congress to act on the matter, a senior Senator said.

“The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), under the law and existing jurisprudence, is authorised to enter into compromise agreements,” Senator Franklin Drilon said in response to suggestions that authorities leave the matter of entering into a concession with the family of former President Ferdinand Marcos to the hands of Congress.

“Under the law, the PCGG is mandated to assist the President in the recovery of ill-gotten wealth,” added Drilon.

There had been a clash among officials of the Duterte administration on how to best implement a compromise on the return of the billions of dollars of perceived ill-gotten gains of the Marcos family. The President, who is known to be close to the Marcoses, said last August 29 that the family is willing to “open everything” and “return” to the government a portion of the wealth in question.

President Marcos was ousted by an uprising in 1986 after holding power for more than two decades. It had been said that during his presidency the family of the president and their cronies appropriated for themselves certain private properties and accumulated billions of dollars in gold, jewellery and other forms of wealth.

Drilon, who had chaired the PCGG in the past during the administration of President Corazon Aquino, said whatever compromise the government would enter into, should be “limited only to civil cases” as in the forfeiture of ill-gotten wealth.

“Any compromise agreement shall be valid and binding only upon court approval. No agreement can be made contrary to law or the Constitution,” he emphasised.

Last Monday Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella had urged legislators to authorise Duterte to work out a solution for the return of the Marcos wealth to the Philippine government.

“As the President has promised, this entire negotiation will be done professionally and transparently, with a full accounting to the people, and especially, authority from the Congress.”

“We, therefore, urge Congress to authorise the President to proceed with negotiations and set parameters taking into account concerns raised by critics and the citizenry. It would be best if we all work together for final justice, closure, and national reconciliation,” Abella said.

Previously unbending positions of past governments concerning the Marcoses has seen dramatic change under the administration of Duterte. Last year, the President allowed the burial for the former President at the national cemetery for the country’s heroes and leaders, the Libingan ng Mga Bayani in Taguig City despite opposition from left wing groups and political adherents of the family of President Corazon Aquino.

Duterte, in allowing the burial of the former President at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani said the interment aims to break the chains from the past that been burdening and dragging Filipinos for so long.