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Although Aquino showed personal compassion for Marcos in the interest of national unity, she made it plain that she would spare no effort to reclaim the vast fortune the Marcos family is believed to have spirited out of the country over the years. She announced the creation of a Cabinet-level Presidential Commission on Good Government, headed by former Senator Jovito Salonga, 65. One of the panel's tasks will be the recovery of an estimated $2 billion in "hidden wealth" that the Marcos family has surreptitiously squirreled away in the U.S. and Switzerland. Salonga said he had already secured counsel in New York City to block the possible sale of more than $300 million in Manhattan properties allegedly owned by the Marcos family. "We will have no trouble recovering the assets here in the Philippines," Salonga said. "But overseas we will have to proceed according to local law."
Though acclaimed as President, Aquino is technically head of a provisional government. According to Enrile, it was he who suggested that Aquino be sworn in even before it was clear that Marcos would leave Malacanang. "I took the initiative because we did not anticipate that the President would get out," he said. "He had the constitution. But we had the people with us." The scheme worked, but it left Aquino presiding over a government that is legally outside the constitution. Thus early this week she is expected to ask the Batasang Pambansa, or National Assembly, to nullify its Feb. 15 resolution proclaiming Marcos the winner of the election. The former President's departure has persuaded most legislators in his New Society Movement (K.B.L.) / to promise Aquino their backing. A new resolution recognizing her as the victor is expected to pass, but it is questionable whether it will be valid in constitutional terms. The snap election, which Marcos claimed to have won, 54% to 46%, was so tainted by fraud, most of it perpetrated by Marcos supporters, that it is now impossible to say with certainty which candidate prevailed.
Once endorsed by the National Assembly, Aquino is likely to call a constitutional convention to rewrite the present document, eliminating some of its more authoritarian provisions. The plan is broadly supported by her advisers, even Enrile. "We should revise the constitution and remove its imperfections," he told TIME. "It was tailored to serve a regime." One of the first provisions to go will be Amendment 6, which granted Marcos broad decree-making powers. Aquino pledged during the campaign to repeal the amendment or, alternatively, to use it one last time to wipe out all of Marcos' repressive measures.
One of Aquino's main goals during her first days in office will be to throw some of the gears of government into high-speed reverse. "More than determining what government should be doing, we will attempt to define very clearly what government should not be doing," says Minister Villafuerte. The language sounds Reaganesque, but in today's Philippines, less government means greater civil liberties as well as unfettered markets. Aquino raised the issue of decentralization before the election when she outlined a detailed plan for her first 100 days in office. Among the promises: to unshackle the government-controlled press, expel corrupt judges, and repeal labor laws that permit police to order strikers back to work.