DOJ Part 2

Arelma and the Swiss accounts, they were the subject of summary judgments po ng Sandiganbayan.

So, na-recover na ho iyan.

And then, as to the other assets po, they became the subject of compromise agreements,

whereby these assets were surrendered to the government.

Surrendered by whom?

Surrendered po.

Iyong mga, those who were, uh, perhaps standing as dummies, they surrendered the, the assets po.

So, marami na po tayong recoveries diyan.

And some of these properties were recovered in other cases po.

Okay. Some but not all.

Well, there are still assets, but, uh, when we investigated po, ano eh, wala na po talagang—for example po, there were corporations listed in that case.

But then, these corporations turned out to be unregistered or non-operational na po,

and then we don't have anymore the witnesses.

So, we had to be candid with the court, uh, by stating that we are no longer presenting evidence po.

Ah, so, Chair, maaari po bang makahingi sa PCGG ng parang pinaka-report on, uh, the recovered hidden wealth,

ah, especially, ah, iyong mga pinakahuli na nabanggit ninyo?

At mayroon ba tayong imbentaryo?

Ano ba talaga iyong buong tina-target natin?

Opo.

At ano iyong na-recover na natin at ano iyong hindi pa natin nare-recover?

Mayroon po tayong imbentaryo niyan.

Uh, mayroon din tayong imbentaryo ng current cases po.

Okay.

Ah, about, uh, 67 cases po iyan which are pending in the appellate courts.

Ang halaga po niyan,

mga more than 70

billion pa ho.

More than ₱70 billion?

Oo.

Ang abogado po namin eh ang OSG po.

Okay.

So, ₱70 billion pa ang tina-target natin na mabawi na ill-gotten wealth ng pamilyang Marcos.

Tama po?

Opo.

Tama po.

At ang PCGG po ay, ah, ano po ba kayo? Attached agency to the—

Attached agency po kami sa Department of Justice.

Okay.

Kayo po, appointee po kayo?

Opo.

Sino ang nag-appoint sa inyo?

Si President Marcos po.

Si President Marcos din.

Okay.

So, well, just your—gusto ko lang po marinig:

Hindi po ba awkward sa inyo?

Awkward po, pero trabaho po iyan.

Okay.

But then, to the credit of the President

and the family,

we never, uh, uh, were pressured on anything po.

We have been performing our duty independently.

So, wala pong undue influence on us.

Okay.

Ah, well, so, ang malinaw po, may tina-target pa kayo na ₱70 billion worth of ill-gotten wealth.

Opo.

Ah, at may mga pending cases ang mga iyan.

Tama po ba?

Opo.

Okay.

Kaya narito kayo ngayon para humingi ng budget para matuloy ninyo pa iyong laban na iyon.

Tama po ba?

Tama po.

Okay.

At, ah, kasi noon, may mga proposal po na i-abolish na raw ang PCGG,

no?

Tapos na raw ang, ang, you know, ang mandato ninyo o wala nang mare-recover.

Sumasang-ayon ba kayo doon?

Ah, kami po eh sang-ayon na ma-abolish iyong PCGG,

but in its place, mayroon po sanang maitatayong new agency that will take over the mandate of the PCGG, but expanded mandate po.

Kasi ang mandate po ngayon ng PCGG is napaka-limited po eh.

It's just the Marcos ill-gotten wealth.

Tama po.

Uh, but then, we want it to be expanded so that, uh, the mandate will be applied to all public officials who have unlawfully acquired assets.

Okay.

Yes.

Ah, so, halimbawa,

Ibig ninyong sabihin iyong mga tipong flood control, ganoon?

Opo.

Ang, ang puwede pong gawin diyan is just to file civil forfeiture cases under RA 1379 po.

Kasi under that law eh nakalagay po doon na any public official who has assets that are manifestly out of proportion to his salary and other legitimate sources of income,

there is already a presumption po na ill-gotten iyan.

And so, the burden of proof shifts to the public official to explain how he was able to amass so much assets, given na this is only salary.

Kaya nga po mapapansin ninyo, iyong, iyong decision po ng Sandiganbayan doon sa Swiss accounts po tsaka Arelma, summary judgment po iyon.

In other words, it's just based on the pleadings.

Mahirap ho kasi ang criminal case

kasi, ang unang-una po, ang quantum of evidence

is proof beyond reasonable doubt,

and you have to establish iyong, iyong paper trail to show na iyong asset na iyan came from government funds.

Could you just explain further ano iyong ibig sabihin ng summary judgment?

Opo.

By foreign courts?

Dito po.

By local courts.

Sandiganbayan po ang nag-render ng summary judgment.

Ah, okay.

Iyong pong isang summary judgment na iyan, opo, kasama iyong Arelma.

Ah, the Philippine government filed a petition for forfeiture—ay, for enforcement of foreign judgment po sa New York.

Eh nanalo po tayo diyan.

There was an appeal.

Recently eh lumabas na po iyong decision.

We won the appeal po.

So, we are just waiting for the action of the U.S. Supreme Court if they will still, uh, affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals po ng, ano, ng New York.

Okay.

Well, Chair,

Ah, nagpapasalamat po ako sa chair ng PCGG.

We, we look forward doon sa report, no, iyong kabuuang summary ng mga efforts na ginagawa ng komisyon para ituloy ang laban para bawiin ang ill-gotten wealth ng pamilyang Marcos.

So, ang sinasabi po rito, may ₱70 billion pa.

₱70 billion na kailangang bawiin.

So, we look forward to that report, Mr. Chair,

thank you.

Thank you, po.

Thank you, po.

Ah, Cong. Tony Tinio?

Okay.

May we recognize Chair Mika Suansing for her manifestation.

Thank you, Vice Chair Mike.

Thank you for presiding over today's deliberation on the budget of the Department of Justice.

Thank you.

Iniwan ko po kayo, Sec, kay Vice Chair Mike Tan because you're in very...

You're in very good hands with him and he did so well today in facilitating all the discussions.

Thank you so much, Vice Chair Mike Tan.

So, I just wanted to, po, wrap up essentially everything that was discussed today.

I think it all boils down to the budgetary requirements of the DOJ.

I was looking through your slides, Sec, and very clear naman that in terms of MOOE, in terms of capital outlay,

ang laki ng binagsak ng budget.

ng DOJ.

I'm looking at the agency-wise allocations.

The one that stands out to me is Bureau of Immigration.

Malaki po talaga yung nawala sa Bureau of Immigration.

It's not just the capital outlay, the locally funded project, kasi yun po yata yung ICT.

But even the GASS.

Malaki talaga yung binagsak.

May I know, po?

Which...

Specific components of the GASS were reduced.

May I have a better idea of what we would need to restore, if ever?

Yes, po, Your Honor.

Magandang gabi po, Your Honor.

Yung pong sa maintenance and other operating expenses, or MOOE, tinanggalan po kami ng 673,476,000.

Ito po ang breakdown nun.

Additional provision for a drug-free workplace initiative.

In the amount of...

3,403,000.

Additional MOOE for EXPATS.

Yan po yung aming expanded alien registration system.

Umiikot po yung mga tao po namin sa buong Pilipinas para mag-alien mapping.

Tinanggalan po kami ng budget para doon ng 18,871,000.

And then, yun din pong MOOE for locally funded projects for the development, enhancement, and procurement of IT systems and infrastructures.

Ang amount po niyan is 651,202,000.

Pagdating naman po, Your Honor, sa capital outlay, tinanggalan rin po kami ng 1,227,811,000.

Representing yung pong capital outlay for locally funded projects for the development, enhancement, and procurement of IT systems and infrastructures.

Yan po yung sa aming main office and sa support offices po namin over the Philippines.

Ang amount po diyan na tinanggal is 951,531,000.

And last po, tinanggalan din po kami para sa post-construction ng aming bagong BI building in the amount of 276,280,000.

Dati po kasi ma'am, hindi po namin ma-request ito kasi ang sabi po ng DBM, hindi pa po kami nakakalipat sa building.

Ngayon po, nakalipat na po kami recently.

So, pero po kailangan po namin ng additional funding

Para po sa post-construction, Your Honor.

Kom, I'd have to coordinate with you po because, like for example, just the Bureau of Immigration alone, that's a very substantive amount that would need to be restored if ever.

So, given the limited fiscal space, we'd really have to prioritize which items we would need.

So, in the Bureau of Immigration...

In the Bureau of Immigration alone, we're looking at over 1.1, 1.2 billion, kasi nabanggit niyo po, IT system pa lang, 1 plus billion na po.

So, siguro po, Kom, with SEC, kasi it's going to be one, essentially one list coming from DOJ.

So, when Sec gives the list to me for items for consideration,

ipa-prioritize na natin siya, Sec, among the different attached agencies within the DOJ.

So, we'll have to look through that later on.

Yes, Your Honor.

We'll gladly submit that wish list with the corresponding order of prioritization.

And we will do the proper consultation with the various agencies here.

Yes, po.

Kasi usually po, di ba, I really ask for the help of the head of the agency to essentially rationalize all the requests from the different agencies.

So, thank you, Kom, for enlightening us.

Actually, as I was looking through the NEP, like, stand out sa akin yung over 1 billion reduction sa Bureau of Immigration alone.

And then now that I'm looking through the presentation of the Department of Justice as a whole,

mas nakita ko na it's not just one agency that experienced that.

It's actually across the board.

So, next po, we have...

Sorry, po.

Medyo himayin ko lang siya, so I know where to focus.

Under the law enforcement program, siguro po, dito ako nagulat because a lot of the items that are considered priorities at the moment received a substantial cut.

For example po, anti-trafficking in persons enforcement, that got a 41% decrease.

And ito talagang nagulat ako because this is a LEDAC measure.

We even amended the OSAEC law.

OSAEC got a 59% decrease.

So, yun po siguro, i-consider natin siguro, Sek, yun.

We will put them in the priority.

Thank you, po.

What else?

For the corrections program, over half cut from the victims' compensation services.

For the NBI?

Okay.

Director Melvin, nakita ko yung sa NBI, yung cut.

Sobrang laki din po for general administration support services.

42% yung nawala po.

So, may you just enlighten me as to what items were cut within the GASS.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

There are six items na we want sana na ma-address yung mabalik, but there are a lot na tanggal.

Yung isa po, number one, yung priority ko is sana we increase the hazard pay

of our agents, only the agents, from 4,000 to 15,000.

Medyo hindi na po kami at par with other law enforcement.

So, we've been transferring agents from one province to another, and it's very difficult

for them to cope up with the transfer.

So, nahihirapan po kami na mag-ikot.

Number two, we are doing now an operation, so about 200 to 220 average operations per month.

Ito po yung mga kasama.

Kasama na po diyan yung mga [unclear].

Lahat na po, financial scams, cybercrimes, and everything.

So, right now, we are...

Right now, we are asking for the increase; we're spending so much for the COPLAN.

If you will just—yung pong COPLAN na tinatawag—when we do the operations,

nandoon po lahat yung data na kailangan, including the expenses.

Normally, we are averaging the expenses nasa minimum 100.

So if you put to 100 po yung sa co-plan namin, averaging at 200 to 220,

mga 44 billion a month na po yung kailangan namin dyan to continue what we've been doing.

At meron po kaming upgrade sana ng equipment, yung pong sa mga drones na kailangan namin bilhin,

and other issues that we want to address in order for us also to address yung administrative capability namin.

We want to do yung pong ISO namin, gusto rin namin sanang gawin doon.

And another is purchase of additional vehicles,

which is very critical in our operations.

A lot of our vehicles right now are marked or red plate po.

So we cannot do the operations using the marked vehicles,

kasi darating pa lang po kami, sasabihin, ‘Andiyan yung mga NBI, may gagawin.’

So those are the things po na kinat po sa amin, medyo marami po talaga.

We recognize yung sa budget utilization on the previous year,

and we have plugged it down, and if we look at the mandate given by the Congress,

na nag-expand po yung aming

investigative power,

which we have to cope up, especially in the issues po of cybercrime.

About 8 out of 10 crimes, related na po yung cyber, 80%.

So yan po yung isa namin gusto sanang ma-address.

Right now, we are sharing the tools that CICC have,

pero sana po meron din kami capability.

So siguro may mga Congs po na very concerned in their district to address also those crimes.

We are looking forward to put up cybercrime laboratories sana sa mga regions.

And those things po, those are all law enforcement tools and equipment that we need

para po medyo makahabol.

Kasama na po dyan yung issue ng shooting sa Ateneo de Zamboanga and also sa Tacloban.

Meron po kaming mga continuous monitoring that we need the support po of the Committee on Appropriations

to address these concerns po.

Salamat po.

Thank you, Director Melvin.

Actually, you were talking about anti-cybercrime.

And nakita ko, hindi ko pa lang po nabanggit kanina,

aside from anti-trafficking in persons enforcement and OSAEC,

yung anti-cybercrime pala sobrang laki ng binagsak, 71%.

Across the board, looking at the corrections program,

half from the victims' compensation,

looking at the legal services program,

15% from the...

refugee and stateless persons protection unit.

Sa BuCor, natanggalan din po sa GASS, 13%.

Sa immigration, we've discussed that already.

LRA, nabawasan din yung GASS by 12%.

OGCC, nabawasan din yung GASS.

So across the board talaga yung general administration and support services.

And then for OSG,

operations got cut by 8%.

PPA, 36% din sa GASS.

And PCGG, 64%, less RLIP and special account.

So across the board,

it's very helpful that you were able to segment it in this manner,

kasi at least nakikita namin na each agency talaga,

even OADR, GASS din and operations,

So we're able to see the cuts across the board within the DOJ.

So SEC, we'll work together po with Vice Chair Mike Tan

in terms of prioritizing the items for consideration in restoration.

Because as you know po, here in the Committee on Appropriations,

one of the important reforms that we've done

was we now have the Budget Amendments Review Subcommittee,

which deliberates on,

and discusses line by line,

all the amendments that we would incorporate into the GAB.

And those amendments po would come from the request,

the institutional amendments request emanating from the agencies.

So hihingi po sana kami ng tulong ninyo,

all the heads of agencies and all of our officials po in the DOJ,

please help us po, please guide us,

so that,

when we do prioritize items for restoration,

at least po, it's in line with the priorities of the agencies.

Sayang naman po kung malagyan namin ng pondo yung isang bagay,

na hindi naman talaga yun yung priority ng ahensya.

So in this, in this, ano po, in this process,

let's partner po.

So we would best allocate and optimize the utilization of resources,

given our very limited fiscal space.

So SEC, sorry po.

Magse-set lang ako ng

kung kaya po sana,

if you can send us within the week,

best po if you can send it ASAP,

just so we're able to consolidate everything before the deliberation of the BARC.

Yes, Your Honor.

We will comply.

We will comply and definitely submit a comprehensive listing

with the appropriate prioritization per agency.

And then I'll also defer to Vice Chair Mike,

if in case there's like back and forth before we finalize the prioritized list.

Yun lang.

I think yun po, that's the most important,

my most important role in this hearing,

which is to make sure that we're able to best identify the items that would require restoration.

So on our part po, best effort.

But again, we all recognize that we have limited fiscal space.

But we'll make sure po that we're able to allocate resources in the most optimized manner.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you SEC.

Thank you to the officials po of the DOJ. Ay, sorry po.

And lastly po, lastly po,

we recognize the great work that the DOJ and all the attached agencies have been doing,

especially from the law enforcement side.

And ano po,

we want to recognize that by also equipping you

with the resources that you need

to be able to perform your mandates better.

So we're your partners po.

Alam niyo naman po 'yan.

We're always in support of all the projects and programs that you are,

and all the good that you are doing for our country.

So I just wanted to take this opportunity.

Maraming maraming salamat po for all the great work that you're doing.

Thank you, Chair Mika.

Uh, may we solicit a motion to terminate

the budget briefing of the DOJ and its attached agencies?

Madam Chair, I move to terminate today's—

I move that we suspend the committee proceedings

and resume tomorrow, August 25, 2026 at 9 a.m.

So I so move, Madam Chair.

Ah, there is a motion.

Duly seconded.

The— for the Andaya Hall,

the committee proceedings are now suspended

and will resume tomorrow, August 25, 2026.

at 9 a.m.