Thread by @indiohistorian

#TodayinHistory in 1986, 3 days after Corazon Aquino took her oath as 11th President of the Philippines, she issued EO No. 1, establishing the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). As of 2021, it has recovered 174 billion pesos of Marcos ill-gotten wealth. THREAD.

Beginning in 1968, under the names "William Saunders" & "Jane Ryan," Pres. Ferdinand Marcos & First Lady Imelda Marcos deposited $950k in @CreditSuisse, stolen from US war reparations to #PH. The trail was pursued from the papers discovered left behind in Malacañang in 1986.

A month prior to the Ninoy Aquino assassination in 1983, the Marcoses purchased art pieces by renowned artists like Coffermans, Degas, Veronese, de Zurban and della Robbia, w/ value amounting to $2.2M. There are other artworks yet to be recovered.

https://twitter.com/indiohistorian/status/1296765176981544964?s=20&t=aWgYrfpQWrZAgMHyE0FwxQ

Making good her promise of good governance by regaining public trust on government, #onthisday in 1986 Aquino est. PCGG as her 1st act as #PH president, to recover the plunder of the Marcoses, & cronies, & to investigate other cases of graft & corruption.

https://twitter.com/indiohistorian/status/1497074217497481216?s=20&t=aWgYrfpQWrZAgMHyE0FwxQ

Aquino appointed Jovito Salonga, one of the opposition voices of #SenatePH before Martial Law, as PCGG chairperson. He was known as the "Great Fiscalizer." Salonga would only sit on the post for a yr as he resigned in 1987 to run for the Senate.

https://twitter.com/indiohistorian/status/1407294915843821568?s=20&t=aWgYrfpQWrZAgMHyE0FwxQ

Upon Aquino's EO No. 2 that froze all assets of the Marcos family in #PH, Salonga lead the #PH negotiation w/ foreign governments to retrieve the Marcos ill-gotten wealth from offshore banks. PCGG was able to sequester billions of pesos from the Marcos jewelry, & 236 corporations

Throughout its institutional history, the PCGG has waged a difficult battle vs. the Marcoses & cronies who through the yrs, have hidden their tracks behind intricate legal structures even while they laundered the stolen wealth abroad.

The slow #PH justice system has also been exploited through technicalities to delay or frustrate PCGG efforts. Nevertheless, since 1986, it has recovered a total of 172 billion pesos worth of assets as of 2019, despite its limited budget (Budget: P2.8B in 2016).

The largest single recovery in PCGG's history was the case w/ San Miguel Corporation, w/ shares at P70.2B. These were sequestered in 1986, but the case dragged on for 26 yrs, until SC gave ruling that the said shares belong to the #PH government in trust for the coconut farmers.

Back in Nov 2015, under the purview of PCGG, the 3 Marcos jewelry collections left behind by the Marcoses upon their escape to the U.S. in 1986, was put under appraisal. W/ help of Christie's auction house appraisers, the collections amount to approx P1 billion.

The PCGG wasn't perfect. In 2012, the Ombudsman found PCGG Chairperson Camilo Sabio (2005-2010) guilty of grave misconduct, stripping him of retirement, & perpetually disqualifying him to hold public office. Despite these hurdles, & attempts to abolish PCGG, it has stayed on.

As of 2021, the PCGG has recovered P174 billion of Marcos plunder, w/ P125 billion more to be recovered.

Read:
▫️ rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/b……
▫️ theguardian.com/world/2016/may…

Photos:
- PCGG office w/ Philippine flag on half-mast in tribute to PNoy, 24 June 2021

- Marcos accounts in Credit Suisse, photo from Ambeth Ocampo
- July 1983 receipt, from PCGG
- Imelda Marcos in 2007; The paintings disappeared just before a raid in 2014. Photo by Romeo Gacad
- Some of sample Marcos jewelries, in PCGG exhibit, 2016

- David Warren, Christie's appraiser, inspects the jewelries, Nov 2015, from the Official Gazette PH

For @subselfie.
@jmnualla
@tonitiemsin