Nine handguns seized by the United States Bureau of Customs from the entourage of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986 have remained unrecorded in the books of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the Commission on Audit (COA) has revealed.
The “short firearms” were turned over to the PCGG on April, 1993 and were used by PCGG commissioners and officials. The guns, COA said, were “found in the custody of the PCGG.”
However, the said assets have yet to be recorded by the commission, COA said in the agency’s 2020 annual audit report released on Thursday, June 4.
Auditors noted that documents covering the turnover of the firearms indicated that the US BoC confiscated the firearms as the Marcos entourage entered the US following the successful 1986 EDSA Power Revolution that ousted him as president.
Listed as personal properties of the Marcos entourage, the firearms included one cal 25 Beretta; three 9 MM Beretta; two .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolvers; one .38 COP pistol; one 9MM Stevr pistol and a .45 caliber Colt.
“The United States Bureau of Customs turned over the above-listed nine firearms to the Philippine government through the PCGG sometime in April 1993 for the use of the commissioners and other officials for their security and personal protection,” the audit report stated.
“Verification of accounting records disclosed that said firearms were not appraised at the time of turn-over and never recorded in the books of PCGG since April 1993 or for almost 28 years,” audit examiners said.
They recommended that an appraisal of the firearms to determine their "current fair market value and record the same in the books under the account Confiscated/Property/Assets.”
In the same audit report, COA called for the recognition in the books of “uncollected rentals totaling P2,846,722.18” from leased condominium units “at GdM” and seven tenants leasing spaces at the People’s Center Library and Sto. Nino Shrine in Tacloban City.