Duterte expands PACC mandate to go after corrupt officials

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Duterte has issued Executive Order 73, a measure that allows him to directly investigate or hear an administrative case against any presidential appointee.

The new issuance expands Executive Order 43 that created and tasked the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) to go after appointees who engage in corruption during his term.

It also allows Duterte to authorize any of the agencies under the Office of the President to do the investigation on his behalf. Earlier this week, he warned his Cabinet members and others in the executive department to shape up or risk getting fired from their posts.

“Nothing shall prevent the President, in the interest of the service, from directly investigating and/or hearing an administrative case against any presidential appointee or authorizing other offices under the Office of the President to do the same, as well as from assuming jurisdiction at any stage of the proceedings over cases being investigated by the (PACC),” read a portion of the new EO.

The new EO also gives the PACC the mandate to recommend to the Anti-Red Tape Authority and to the President the filing of appropriate criminal complaints against erring officials either before the Office of the Ombudsman or the Department of Justice.

The PACC, headed by Volunteer Against Crime and Corruption chairman Dante Jimenez, earlier said it was investigating Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, former Customs Commissioner and now Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Isidro Lapeña and National Commission on Indigenous Peoples chairman Leonor Oralde-Quintayo.

Signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, EO 73 amends Section 5 of EO 43 that covers jurisdiction, powers and functions of the PACC.

That section provides that the PACC shall have the power – on complaint or motu propio and concurrently with the Office of the Ombudsman – to hear, investigate, receive, gather and evaluate evidence, intelligence reports and information on administrative cases against all presidential appointees in the executive branch of the government and any of its agencies and instrumentalities.

Among the cases that it may look into are violations of the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Republic Act 1379 which centers on the unlawful acquisition of a property by a public officer or employee and Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct for public officials and employees. – With Rhodina Villanueva