1, series 1986: (a) Recovery of ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses – The executive order specifies this as "all ill-gotten wealth accumulated by former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, his immediate family, relatives, subordinates and close associates, whether located in the Philippines or abroad, including the takeover or sequestration of all business enterprises and entities owned or controlled by them, during his administration, directly or through nominees, by taking undue advantage of their public office and/or using their powers, authority, influence, connections or relationship."
(e) To administer oaths, and issue subpoena requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and/or the production of such books, papers, contracts, records, statement of accounts and other documents as may be material to the investigation conducted by the commission.
[14] Marcos' rule after his 1972 declaration of Martial Law was characterized by numerous human rights abuses[15][16] while the Marcoses became known for an increasingly decadent lifestyle,[17][18] until the collapse of the Philippine economy in 1983 and the assassination of opposition senator Benigno Aquino Jr. finally led to the Marcoses being deposed by the 1986 People Power revolution and exiled to Hawaii.
[14][19] Statements of Assets filed by Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos from 1966 to 1986, showed that they had earned combined salaries worth P2,319,583.33 ($304,372.43 based on prevailing exchange rates at that time).
[28]: 175 In a 1985 report to the United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Stephen Bosworth estimated that the Marcoses had stolen an accumulated wealth of US$10 billion "in recent years", in the context of the rapid decline of the Philippine economy in the early 1980s.
[32]: "27" The PCGG's first chairperson, Jovito Salonga later said that he estimated the figure of US$5 billion–10 billion,[25] based on the documentary trail left behind by the Marcoses in 1986.
[35] However Jesus Estanislao, another noted economist from the Center for Research and Communication, pointed out that this figure reflected amounts taken out of the country in the years immediately prior to the ouster of the Marcos administration, and that there was no way to accurately estimate the wealth acquired by the Marcoses since the 1950s.
[28]: 175 On February 28, 1986, three days after she was inaugurated as President of the Philippines at Club Filipino,[36] Corazon Aquino issued Executive Order No.
1, creating the PCGG,[2] exercising her unique position of having full possession of both legislative and executive powers as president of the new revolutionary government.
8532 - the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in 1988, which gave a congressional mandate for the program and formalized the automatic appropriation of PCGG'S recovered funds for that purpose.
In addition to the Marcoses themselves, civil cases were filed against: Alfredo Romualdez, Amando Romualdez, Jose Africa, Andres Genito, Herminio Disini, Alberto Looyuko, Rodolfo Cuenca, Bienvenido Tantoco, Lucio Tan, Fabian Ver, Eduardo Cojangco, Geronimo Velasco, Anos Fonacier, Roman Cruz, Fe Roa Gimenez, Ofelia Trinidad, Alfonso Lim, Major General Josephus Ramas, Jolly Bugarin, Emilio Yap, Luz Bakunawa, Antonio Martel, Vicente Chuidian, Jose De Venecia, Alejo Ganut, BGen Jaime Echeverria, Tomas Dumpit, Ricardo Silverio, Roberto Abling, Peter Sabido, Remedios Argana, Jesus Tanchanco, Roberto Benedicto, and Eduardo Marcelo.
[7] As part of their mandate to institute safeguards to prevent corruption, the PCGG also began pushing for the passage of what would eventually become Republic Act 6713 – the 1987 Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
The documents revealed that the Marcoses had started depositing money in Swiss banks as early as 1968 – four years prior to the declaration of martial law.
[42][7] Towards the end of Salonga's term in the PCGG, Banana Magnate Antonio Floirendo also entered into a settlement agreement, returning PHP70 million in cash and assets, including the Lindenmire Estate in Long Island; Olympic Towers in Midtown Manhattan; and 2433 Makiki Heights Drive in Honolulu.
[7] The Aquino administration went through four further PCGG chairpersons before the end of her term in 1992 - Ramon A. Diaz, Adolfo Azcuna, Mateo Armando Caparas, and David Castro.
The PCGG was also able to earn significantly from the auction of the Marcoses' furniture, rugs, books, silverware and artwork, including 99 paintings from the Marcoses' old masters collection - notably "David with the Head of Goliath" by Francisco de Zurbarán, and "The city of venice adoring the Christ child" by Paolo Veronese.
The PCGG also successfully appealed to various US District Courts forbidding the Marcoses from selling assets identified for recovery by the Philippine Government.
[10] The settlement in a California court case against Imelda Marcos herself resulted in the surrender of PHP11.5 million from her Sanwa Bank accounts, and most of the assets seized by US customs when the Marcoses first went into exile in Honolulu.
[10] During this time, Swiss Courts ordered the transmission to the Philippines of documents regarding the Marcoses’ deposits in Geneva, Zurich, and Freburg.
[citation needed] In 1992 Imelda Marcos threatened to sue the PCGG if they did not return all the property seized from their family "including the shoes, panties and bra.