Solicitor General Menardo I. Guevarra on Saturday, July 9, justified the decision of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to abolish the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC).
“During our first cabinet meeting, the President gave all of us a free hand in reorganizing our respective agencies and streamlining our operations to promote a more efficient allocation of scarce government resources,” Guevarra said.
“I think the deactivation of the PACC was along that line, but surely it was not because the PACC was ineffective,” he pointed out.
Guevarra recounted that during his time as justice secretary, “I had a meaningful collaboration with the PACC in the overall campaign against corruption in government.”
The PACC was created in 2017 by then President Duterte to probe alleged corrupt presidential appointees.
Last June 30 after his inauguration, President Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 1 which abolished PACC.
On PACC’s abolition, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said: “Basically the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission… is not in line with streamlining. First of all, its nature is investigative, which can also be conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman.”
Cruz-Angeles said that the PACC gathers evidence on presidential appointees and then files a case with the Ombudsman. She said a complaint can directly be filed with the Ombudsman even without the PACC.