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WHAT
ouster move?
This was
the question of Nicasio Conti, Commissioner for Legal
Affairs of the Presidential Commission on Good
Government (PCGG), after his name was dragged into
supposed moves to oust incumbent chairman Camilo Sabio.
According to Conti, even he was surprised to hear the
news. He had just arrived from Singapore on an official
mission on PCGG cases.
“I have
no idea about it nor am I behind it,” Conti said of the
ouster plot, when pressed over news reports dragging his
name along with fellow commissioner Narciso Nario—who is
still on leave—as conspirators in ousting Sabio.
Conti
said he has always viewed Sabio as a very quiet and
hardworking man. “He is a good man and a very quiet
worker. I have high respect for him so I can’t
understand why I am being dragged into this.”
Sources
from the PCGG said, however, that one of the
commissioners wanted Sabio out of the agency but is now
using squid tactics to cover up for his sneaky moves.
“Somebody from the commissioners’ [ranks] is making the
move for chairman Sabio’s ouster. It’s just one
commissioner who wanted him out because they have been
at odds over several questionable transactions,” the
source claimed.
Asked to
confirm the source’s information, Conti said
commissioners at times debate in en banc meetings but
after that they always shake hands and consider it part
of a day’s job.
“We
argue during en banc meetings, debates on how to
expedite the cases or how to approach a specific case
but we never stab each other behind the back. We end the
day in high spirits,” he said.
“I, for
one, do not have any ill-feelings for any of the
commissioners of the agency,” he added.
Earlier
reports said the PCGG is “teetering on the brink of
destruction,” owing to alleged infighting among the
commissioners tasked to recover the alleged ill-gotten
wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies.
Sabio
earlier told media of alleged moves to oust him from his
post.
Two
months ago, the PCGG was put under the administrative
supervision of the Department of Justice, effectively
clipping its powers.
Among
those where the PCGG was restrained were the planned
international auction of billions of pesos worth of
jewelries sequestered from the Marcos family, and the
forging of a compromise deal with coconut farmers over
some P130 billion in coconut-levy funds.
Then
last week, the DOJ barred the PCGG from issuing
statements or comments on all commission-related issues,
a first in the agency’s 21-year history.
Sabio
declined to name those behind the alleged smear campaign
against him. “Let the President [Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo]
act on it. I’m going to stay until 2010 no matter what
happens unless the President tells me to leave,” Sabio
told reporters.
According to a report, one of the aides of Sabio tagged
Conti and Nario as among the officials eyeing Sabio’s
post.
Sabio’s
staff also claimed it was Conti who exposed to media the
PCGG chairman’s involvement in alleged anomalies
surrounding the Payanig sa Pasig, a prime
government-sequestered property.
Sabio is
being investigated by the Presidential Antigraft
Commission (PAGC) over some P10.35 million in cash
advances he allegedly made from Mid-Pasig Land
Development Corp., the registered owner of the Payanig
lot.
Nario,
who recently had a heart operation, is still on leave.
Commissioners Ricardo Abcede and Tereso Javier could not
be reached for comment. |
