PCGG mulls Salonga proposal

Still reeling from last week's legal setback on its claim to the $660 million former deposits of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in Swiss banks, the Presidential Commission on Good Government yesterday said it is mapping out legal strategies to win the 11-year-old case.

PCGG chairman Haydee Yorac said the agency lawyers will meet the Solicitor General to map out the legal remedy to the recent decision by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan decision that the $660 million, now held in escrow at the Philippine National Bank, cannot be released in favour of the government for its failure to submit authenticated Swiss court documents.

"We are still weighing the legal options because there are a number of alternatives open to us," said Yorac in a press conference.

Jovito Salonga, the first PCGG chairman upon its establishment in 1986, said the commission should explore the possibility of out-of-court settlement to hasten the recovery of the $660 million deposits.

"This will ensure direct remittance of the amount without going through inefficient legal procedures."

Salonga cited a newly-implemented protocol in Europe which allow claimant countries to have immediate access to the amount they are claiming without going through the tedious litigation process.

"That is one option we can consider, but as of now even the Swiss government is not yet a formal party to the protocol," said Yorac.

Aside from the Philippines government, another group of claimants to the Marcos wealth are some 10,000 victims of human rights violations under the dictatorial regime.