Restitution

Justice is not enough, says the ICI chair. We must have restitution.

- ALEX MAGNO

Those are reassuring words. It has dancing in our minds images of tables full of cash and boxes of money delivered to prestigious addresses. It recalls pictures of nepo babies spending extravagantly in the fashion capitals of the world and fleets of executive jets hiding in private hangars.

If only we can get back part of the loot from those who transformed our government into an engine for plunder, we might close the yawning classroom gap or finally deliver medical care to the rural poor.

To date, the Anti-Money Laundering Council has frozen about P5 billion in accounts identified with the plunderers. That is fairly significant - and does not yet include the truly vast amounts accumulated by the main players who truly deserve garnishment. But it is really a drop in the bucket. Over the past three years alone, the Republic might have lost over a trillion pesos to corruption.

In the schemes said to have been perfected by Zaldy Co and his co-conspirators, the looting runs into the hundreds of billions. Even minor provincial players involved in these schemes were able to afford Italian supercars.

The principals were in another league, of course. They collected mansions in the most expensive places: nice places to drop bags full of cash.

But getting back loot in favor of the Republic will not be easy. This will involve filing thousands of civil cases that could be trapped in the court system for decades.