Guevarra to NBI officials: ‘Resist the temptation to look away’

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday called on officials and agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to “resist temptation to look away.”

The chief justice recognized the difficult mandate of the NBI in investigating moneyed and influential perpetrators, which he said is the reason why the government has poured resources to the elite investigating organization.

“More resources are likewise placed at the Bureau’s disposal. From ammunition to modern hardware and software in information technology and cutting-edge training and technology transfer, resources are funneled into the arsenal of the Bureau to upgrade its competence and better equip it in finding leads that others cannot,” Guevarra said in his speech during the NBI’s 82nd anniversary.

“Better benefits are likewise given to those who join the elite corps of investigators that is the NBI. But as the saying goes, to whom much is given, much is required,” Guevarra said.

The Bureau is composed of professionals, mostly in the field of accountancy and law, “a recognition that the offenses the Bureau is tasked to investigate are no ordinary crimes.”

“The men and women of the NBI must constantly resist the temptation to look away, or to be coopted in the generation of lies and half-truths, so that those who offend our people and flout our laws may no longer continue to feign innocence,” Guevarra said.

He stressed that the NBI’s legacy of integrity and abiding tenacity has been existing for 82 years and the current members of the bureau should not break the chain of “greatness” made by the efforts of previous officials and agents.

“I urge you to build on their legacy, so that those who will come after you eighty years hence will have the greatness which, they too, shall build on,” Guevarra said. /ee