Arroyo made the call after Malacañang has thrown its full support behind the PCGG in pursuing an out-of-court settlement or a compromise agreement with the Marcoses, despite strong opposition by some quarters.

"It is an axiom that even before one can start with compromise agreement, the parties must agree on an inventory or list of what will be discussed. Both the Marcoses and the PCGG are ominously silent on that inventory," he said in a press statement.

"Public funds are involved. The public has the right to know. That cannot be ignored," he added, stressing that accountability, which is one of the pillars of good governance, should characterize the planned compromise deal with the Marcoses.

Apparently frustrated by the long and tedious litigation on the recovery of the Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth, the Arroyo administration has been pushing for a compromise agreement with the Marcoses to benefit its pro-poor programs and projects.

Arroyo is not alone in the Senate in calling on the Arroyo administration for a full public disclosure and inventory of the Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth before any compromise agreement is entered and finalized by the government.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. earlier demanded for a "full and complete disclosure of the plundered assets," suspicious that more real estate properties, investments, bank accounts and other assets have been left unraveled up to this date.

Since the Marcoses expect to keep a portion of the questioned wealth, Pimentel said a reasonable ratio between how much they can retain and how much should go to the government, preferably a 90 percent to 10 percent ratio in favor of the government.

He branded as unacceptable the sharing ratio adopted during the time of President Fidel Ramos in which 30 percent would be retained by the Marcoses and 70 percent would go to the government.

"The ill-gotten wealth cases are essentially moral and accountability issues, that what happened should not happen again. The money issue is included because public funds are involved and therefore, must be recovered," Arroyo said.

He also called on President Arroyo to make a categorical statement of her administration’s policy on efforts by the government to recover the Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth, notably on the issue of any compromise agreement with the Marcoses.

"Malacañang must step in on the current PCGG and make a policy pronouncement on the matter," he said. "Why settle? One settles because he is in a weak position and the government is not so situated." (Ferdie Maglalang)