PANEL HEAD SAYS MARCOS STILL CONTROLS LARGE FUNDS
The head of a Philippine panel charged
with recovering illegal wealth accumulated by former President
Ferdinand Marcos and his associates said they still controlled
large funds circulating in the country's economy.
    Ramon Diaz, Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good
Government (PCGG) told Reuters in an interview: "There is every
reason to believe that the cronies and President Marcos and his
family were able to hide millions and millions of pesos before
they fled. As a matter of fact we have been able to get hold of
crates of newly printed currency."
    Diaz did not give figures, but said: "We believe they still
have a lot of funds. These are the funds that they will use in
the coming elections. These are the funds that they used to
stage those coups."
    He was referring to congressional elections scheduled for
May 11 and to the three coup attempts faced by President
Corazon Aquino since she toppled Marcos a year ago.
    Diaz said the PCGG so far has recovered cash and property
valued at about eight billion pesos and had sequestered shares
of stock of at least 286 firms. "We have achieved more than what
we thought we could achieve in one year," he added.
    The PCGG, set up by Aquino in February 1986, has sweeping
powers of sequestration, seizure and inspection of bank
accounts. Diaz said the panel's main task is to gather evidence
for legal prosecution. "But we have to sequester before we file
a case and that is the legal objection because they say that we
shoot first before we ask questions," he said.
    He said dividends from seized shares were held in trust
funds pending court verdicts, adding several Marcos associates
had made confessions about their wealth. He did not name them.
    "They are very concerned and afraid that if their names
appear something may happen to them," he said.
    The government last week announced that businessman Antonio
Floirendo, an associate of Marcos known as the "banana king," had
turned over 70 mln pesos in cash to the PCGG and promised to
surrender titles to property in New York and Hawaii worth
another 180 mln pesos. In return, the PCGG said it had lifted
freeze and sequestration orders on Floirendo's properties.
    Diaz said there were already similar preliminary agreements
with another Marcos associate, Roberto Benedicto. He said
Benedicto had surrendered control of several newspapers and
radio and television stations and agreed to PCGG control of the
boards of a bank and a hotel he owned in the Philippines.
    Diaz said the PCGG based its estimates of illegal wealth on
income-tax returns and land titles of Marcos associates.
"Anything over and above reported income -- that's what we have
to recover," he said.
    He said a decision by the PCGG last week to probe street
certificates held by brokers at Manila's two stock exchanges
was prompted by suspicion that illegal funds were in
circulation.
    Street certificates describe securities held in the name of
a broker or another nominee instead of a customer so as to
permit easy trading or transfer.
    Share prices at the two exchanges reacted nervously last
Tuesday when news of the probe leaked. The composite index at
the Manila Stock Exchange fell 18.61 points to 451.51, while
that at the Makati Stock Exchange slipped 1.7326 points to
close at 63.0618. There was a slight recovery the following
day.
    The presidents of the two exchanges appealed to Diaz to
carry out the probe discreetly so investors were not scared
away, saying street certificates did not necessarily indicate
"anomalous transactions."
    "It's unfortunate that (news of the probe) leaked out to the
papers," Diaz said.
    Diaz said PCGG suspicions were aroused by the stock market
boom over the past year. The Manila Stock Exchange composite
index jumped 224 pct from 131.32 to 424.81 in 1986.
    "One of our functions is to see to it that these assets that
we have sequestered do not go right back into the hands of the
(Marcos) cronies," he said.
    "We want to make sure that these stock exchanges are not
being manipulated by the cronies because maybe they want to
launder their pesos and that is why the prices are just
skyrocketing."
    Diaz said the PCGG would limit its probe to sequestered
stock in brewery giant San Miguel Corp, the Philippine Long
Distance Telephone Co, mining conglomerate Benguet Corp, and
Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corp.
    Shares of the four companies are among the most frequently
traded on the two stock exchanges.
    Diaz said at a meeting with the heads of the two exchanges
last Thursday that the PCGG would act prudently in its
investigation of street certificates, adding the panel
supported government efforts to create a favourable investment
climate.
 REUTER
