Greco Antonious Beda Banta Belgica is a Filipino public servant who has been serving as Chairman of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) since March 15, 2021.
He graduated from San Beda University with a degree on Marketing and Management, finished and furthered his education at the University of California in Berkeley for his Post Graduate Studies on International Trade and Commerce.
As of August 5 2021, he was one of 42 graduates who completed the pioneer class of the Executive Master of Arts in National Security Administration (E-MNSA) at the National Security College in Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo.
After ceremonies, he was one of 18 graduates commissioned to the armed forces reserves and received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel/Commander in the Philippine Navy.
The E-MNSA program is the only graduate-level program that offers a master’s degree covering the broad spectrum of formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies in national security administration.
“Gagawin ko ang lahat ng aking makakaya upang lalong mabawasan nang husto ang mga manloloko at korap sa gobyerno at tuluyan itong maparusahan. Gagawin ko ang lahat ng ito sa isang termino lang. Hindi ako kakapit sa puwesto hindi tulad ng iba diyan—diyan na tumanda, diyan na tumaba.”
GRECO ANTONIOUS BEDA BANTA BELGICA PROFILE
Full Name: Greco Antonius Beda Belgica
Birthdate: March 27, 1978 (Age 46)
Birthplace: Manila, Philippines
Residence: Manila, Philippines
Religion: Born Again Christian
Profession/Occupation: Government Official
Parents:
- Grepor “Butch” Belgica, father, pastor, businessman and Presidential Adviser for Religious Affairs (2019-present), Undersecretary of Dangerous Drugs Board (2010-2013), Commissioner of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (2007-2010), Assistant Majority Floor Leader, Manila City Council (1995-1998), Councilor of the 6th District of Manila (1994-1996)
- Carmelita Banta Belgica, mother
Siblings:
- Jeremiah B. Belgica, Secretary/Director General of the Anti-Red Tape Authority, July 2019-present
- Nazareno Belgica
- Jonathan Belgica
Spouse: Nina Rizzi Velasco-Belgica
Children:
- Sophia Nicole Belgica
- Don Greco Butch Belgica
EDUCATION:
- Bachelor of Science & Administration in Marketing and Management, San Beda University
- Certificate program in International Trade and Commerce, University of California, Berkeley
- Philippine Naval Reserve Command, Armed Forces of the Philippines
- Honorary* Doctor on Public Administration, Philippine Christian University
- Executive Master of Arts in National Security Administration, National Defense College of the Philippines
Honorary Degrees:
- Doctorate Degree on Public Administration (Honoris Causa), Philippine Christian University
WORK EXPERIENCE:
- Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission:
- Chairman, Mar. 15, 2021-Oct. 8, 2021
- Commissioner, Jan. 12, 2018-Mar. 14, 2021
- President, Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan, 2018-present
- President, Yeshua Livestock and Agricultural Products, 2012-present
- President, Yeshua Change Agents, 2008-present
- Founder and president, Yeshua Foundational Learning Center, 2010-present
- Pastor, The Lord’s Vineyard Covenant Community, 2009-present
- Founder and president, Save a Child Program, 2010-present
- Founder and president, Save a Child Program
- Founder, ReformPH Movement
- Board Member, Anti-Drug Abuse Council of Manila, 2011-2012
- Councilor, 6th District of Manila City, 2004-2007
- Youth Adviser, Office of the Mayor-Youth Affairs, City of Manila, 2000-2004
- Officer at the following companies:
- President, The Living Miracle Foundation, 2009-present
- Marketing Manager, New Oasis Advertising, LLC Dubai, UAE, 2009-2010
- Chief executive officer, GBB Legacy, Inc., 2008-present
- Chief executive officer. Great Builders-Trading Co., 2008-present
- Chief executive officer, Belgic Broadcasting Corp., 2008
- Executive Assistant to the Chairman, Asian Precious Metals, Inc., 2001-2003
- Chief executive officer, Trailers on the Run, 2000-2005
- General Manager, Bistro Carmelita by the Palace, 1998-2000
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT:
Public Sector
Belgica was the youth adviser of the Manila Mayor’s Office on Youth Affairs from 2000-2004 and was elected as a councilor in the 6th District of the City of Manila in 2004. From 2011 to 2012, he was a board member of the Anti-Drug Abuse Council of Manila.
In 2017, Duterte issued Executive Order No. 43 creating the PACC to directly assist the president in investigating administrative cases primarily involving graft or corruption against all presidential appointees. It is also mandated to recommend the filing of a complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman and Department of Justice “when appropriate.” The PACC was formed following the ombudsman’s fact-finding investigation while a DOJ Task Force Against Corruption was formed after corruption allegations at the Philippine Health Insurance Corp.
Belgica was appointed PACC commissioner in January 2018. In his weekly public address in late December 2020, Duterte read off the names of current and former officials determined by the PACC as receiving kickbacks from public work projects, although the chief executive admitted that the report was not based on “hard evidence.” Included on the list was Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato, who claimed that the accusation was politically motivated, saying Belgica was a party-mate of her political rival planning to run in the 2022 elections. Other officials named in the report denied the allegations and urged the president and PACC to release the names of the complainants.
After the death of then-Chairman Dante Jimenez, Belgica was appointed chairman of the PACC in March 2021. He spearheaded a Task Force on Lifestyle Check to probe unexplained wealth of officials in the executive branch but transmitted reports only to the Office of the President for Duterte’s consideration. Throughout Belgica’s term, the PACC received and acted on at least 9,000 complaints of corruption in government.
Towards the end of his term, Belgica oversaw the creation of the 49-member National Anti-Corruption Coordinating Council which aims to coordinate anti-corruption efforts by installing bodies down to the barangays to facilitate those efforts on the local level as well as serving “preventive and educative functions” in all its levels. The launch of the NACC’s umbrella campaign dubbed “Project Kasangga: Aksyon Laban sa Korapsyon” came hours after Duterte stated that he wanted the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee to stop its probe into the health department’s pandemic spending.
The NACC’s creation came after the Duterte administration already formed a “mega task force” against corruption in October 2020 that was tasked to probe “the entire government” for possible corruption. It was composed of the National Bureau of Investigation, the National Prosecution Service, the Office of the Special Assistant of the President, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Greco’s brother, Anti-Red Tape Authority Secretary Jeremiah Belgica, was appointed as a member of the NACC.
In response to criticism of the new anti-graft body, Belgica admitted that there are overlaps in the new council’s functions with those of the Commission on Audit and the DOJ’s Task Force Against Corruption, but he noted that the PACC’s mandate is limited to presidential appointees to top government positions and insisted that there should be anti-corruption committees in all government offices.
After several positioning changes across at least two parties, Duterte and Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, a longtime aide to the president, filed their certificates of candidacy for senator and president, respectively, under the relatively unknown PDDS, but later withdrew. PDDS now has two senatorial candidates for 2022 in Belgica and Lady Anne Sahidulla, though it maintains its alliance with the administration PDP-Laban faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonsi Cusi.
Private Sector
Belgica made his first unsuccessful run for Senator in the 2013 elections. That same year, Belgica was among those who questioned the constitutionality of the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel fund.
He ran for Senator as an independent candidate in 2016, but again failed to win a seat.
PLATFORM AND POLICY:
Anti-corruption:
- Unspecified amendments to bank secrecy and anti-wire tapping law
- Formation of local and barangay anti-corruption councils to “intensify” anti-corruption efforts
- Passage of a law expanding the role and jurisdiction of the Anti-Corruption Coordinating Councils in government agencies to include local and barangay government bodies
Law and order:
- Creation of Anti Corruption and Anti-Red Tape Police force
- Continuation of the Duterte administration’s “war on drugs” and campaign against criminality
- Supports reimposition of death penalty for heinous crimes, including drug-related cases and corruption, to strengthen administration’s “war” against corruption and crime
Government Taxation:
- Vowed to amend the Local Government Code and push for the removal of the annual real property tax to ease public burden
Covid-19 Response:
- Promised to put up COVID-19 clinics in every provincial hospital and barangay that will provide patients with free medicines and train doctors with procedures and protocols used in other countries
Greco Belgica is an entrepreneur, pastor and politician who most recently served as chairman of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, an attached bureau under the Office of the President tasked with assisting President Rodrigo Duterte in investigating and hearing administrative cases against presidential appointees involving graft and corruption.
Belgica was elected as councilor of the 6th District of the City of Manila from 2004 to 2007, a post his father Grepor Belgica also held.
He ran for senator in the 2013 elections with the Democratic Party of the Philippines but failed to win a seat with just 2.81% of the vote. Later that year, Belgica was among those who successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to scrap the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork barrel fund. He ran again for a Senate seat in 2016, this time independently but with the endorsement of Duterte. He failed to win a seat again with just 4.62% of the total votes.
As PACC chairman from March 2021 until his resignation in October 2021, Belgica supported Duterte’s anti-corruption efforts and investigations in the executive branch of government. However, his mandate did not involve investigating the Office of the President itself and was only limited to high-ranking government officials, which he said he would push to expand if he were elected senator. Belgica has historically backed Duterte in all his policy positions.
In 2018, Belgica sought accreditation for his new political party, the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan, which seeks to support the Duterte administration’s push for federalism and constitutional reform in the Philippines.
Belgica is running for the Senate on a platform of pushing for stricter anti-corruption measures in the legislative branch. In his earlier run for the Senate in 2013, Belgica, a Christian pastor, vowed to push for the return of the death penalty for heinous crimes, which he said should include corruption from government officials. He said such a measure would ultimately discourage corruption among the government’s ranks down to the barangay level.
His father has been a presidential adviser on religious affairs since 2019, after his appointments to other government commissions while his brother, Jeremiah Belgica, is the Anti-Red Tape Authority secretary.
