Commissioner Ricardo Abcede of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has finally broken his silence and explained why he assumed the post as officer-in-charge of the agency even without consulting the Department of Justice (DoJ).

In a statement issued to the media on Monday, Abcede said he has apologized to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for the “preemptive announcement” he made in a memorandum circular date July 14, 2010, but claimed that he assumed the OIC post “to prevent confusion and destabilization among PCGG employees.”

“I took the bull by the horn and assumed the OIC position to prevent the termination of two-thirds of our employees through an earlier memo (July 2) of the acting OIC — an office director who designated himself as OIC and issued sweeping directives to PCGG employees and officers,” Abcede said, apparently referring to Danilo Daniel, the research director of the PCGG, the most senior career executive service official in the agency.

Sources within the agency said Daniel's July 2 memorandum only reiterated Malacañang's Memorandum Circular 1, whose revised version reads “all non-career executive officials occupying career executive service positions to continue to perform their duties and responsibilities and extending the services of certain contractual and or casual employees whose contracts expire on June 30.”

Following Palace orders, roughly 100 of the almost 300 employees of PCGG will be terminated, “unless the new PCGG chairman renews their contract.”

On July 19, De Lima declared as null and void Abcede's announcement since the DoJ, which has jurisdiction over the PCGG, was still in the process of choosing who among the current commissioners would replace PCGG Chairman Camillo Sabio, who resigned last June 30.

De Lima also recommended replacing the whole five-man PCGG board to enforce a “new approach” in going after the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family. This would send a message of urgency to resolve the agency's work, she said.

However, Abcede argued against replacing the board. Said he: “The replacement of the five-man PCGG board will not hasten the resolution of the pending ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcoses and their alleged cronies. The cases are pending with the courts — Sandiganbayan, Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court — which is why I was exploring the possibility of settlement which the Supreme Court itself has enunciated in a long line of decisions.”

Aside from the delay caused by “prolonged” due process, Abcede blamed Marcos cronies for getting in the way of the PCGG's work.

“A number of these cases have been pending for decades because the Marcos associates/cronies have returned with a vengeance, using their restored power, influence and resources to frustrate government efforts to go after their questionable wealth,” he said.

“We also have to observe due process in going after individuals and sequestered corporations, contend with lack of witnesses and missing vital documents, even the mere service of summonses/subpoenaes,” he added.

But despite the backlogs in litigation, Abcede said the PCGG performed well with the budget allocation it gets from the national government.

“The Sabio commission, despite some controversies, was able to remit to the National Treasury at least P25 billion in cash in 2009 — through the sale of the PLDT shares — with a meager budget of only around P90 million equivalent to the pork barrel of only one congressman. Mathematically, that is a ratio of P400 million recovered versus P1 million spent,” he said.