DOJ-Ombudsman team starts ‘pork’ probe

MANILA, Philippines - An inter-agency government task force has begun an investigation into the alleged massive illegal use of pork barrel by some lawmakers and their cohorts.

The task force includes the Department of Justice (DOJ) whose attached agency, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), is conducting its own probe.

The Commission on Audit (COA) earlier issued a report detailing how some private individuals had cornered billions in congressional pork barrel through fake non-government organizations, in connivance with some lawmakers, from 2007 to 2009. Pork barrel is officially called Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

The Inter-Agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council (IAAGCC) is composed of the DOJ, the NBI, the COA, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Department of Finance, the Office of the President, and the Civil Service Commission.

The probe into the pork barrel scam by the IAAGCC is emerging to be its biggest since the body’s creation in 1997, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said during a press conference yesterday.

“It tackles big cases of national impact, large-scale, fraudulent transactions involving at least P15 million and officials with the rank of at least director,” De Lima said.

“Given the release of the COA special report on the misuse of the PDAF, it is decided that the IAAGCC will initiate a bigger investigation into those allegations contained in the report,” De Lima said.

Beyond Napoles

She said the IAAGCC investigation will go beyond Janet Lim-Napoles and the COA report.

“The COA report is not evidence, but is a very crucial and major document to help us build a strong case to be filed,” De Lima said.

“We are not bound by the report of the COA but it makes it easier for us (to conduct our separate investigation),” Morales, for her part, said.

Napoles has been linked to 10 non-government organizations (NGOs) with questionable dealings with lawmakers.

Morales said the inter-agency body would also check if there were pork anomalies beyond 2009.

She revealed they have requested the Securities and Exchange Commission for the incorporation documents of the companies tagged in the scam, and that some of these documents have been given to them.

She said the Department of Budget and Management and the Anti-Money Laundering Council have yet to respond to requests for relevant information and documents.

Morales also said her office would check with the National Statistics Office if the persons in the incorporation papers are real.

Morales said the convening of the panel was not a reaction to Monday’s protest rallies in Rizal Park and some urban centers across the country and abroad against pork barrel.

She stressed the panel has been convened since July 18.

Morales assured the public the IAAGCC investigation would be fair and balanced.

“We don’t have any record of being tools of anybody,” Morales said. “We assure you of a credible investigation.”

Asked whether investigators would invite concerned politicians as part of the probe, De Lima said they would only be summoned if and when the complaints against them “graduate to the preliminary stage.”

She said investigators have “more than a roomful of documents” to examine.

Morales said concerned parties would likely be more willing to share information with the IAAGCC than with COA. “COA has no prosecutorial power so that’s why some were lukewarm in providing evidence,” she explained.

Finished in 2 weeks

 De Lima, meanwhile, said the NBI investigation – centering on the involvement of Napoles – is likely to be over in two weeks.

“Our basis would be the personal knowledge of the whistleblowers and the other evidence, including the paper trail and the letters of endorsements,” she said.

Napoles and her brother Reynald Lim are in hiding after they were ordered arrested by a Makati City court in connection with an illegal detention case filed by principal whistleblower Benhur Luy.

De Lima said evidence would include proofs of fund releases to allegedly dubious recipients.

She declined to name those who would be slapped with cases.

The NBI would be the complainant in the cases to be filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“We have to go over it (NBI report). If necessary, we will conduct a fact-finding investigation. If it (fact-finding) is no longer needed, we will conduct preliminary investigation,” Morales said, explaining the process at the Office of the Ombudsman.

It would be during the preliminary investigation stage when those implicated would be given a chance to respond through the filing of counter-affidavits.

The Office of the Ombudsman would then determine if there is probable cause to indict those implicated.

Probe on insertions sought

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, for his part, said COA should scrutinize the P68 billion in pork barrel funds senators and congressmen inserted in the national budget in 2010, a presidential election year.  â€“ With Jess Diaz