MANILA, Philippines — The investigation into graft across state agencies by a task force led by the Department of Justice (DOJ) will start with the “usual suspects,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Wednesday.
“DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), BOC (Bureau of Customs), LRA (Land Registration Authority), and PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corp.),” Guevarra said in a text message.
Immigration probe going on
In a radio interview, Guevarra said: “We’ll continue our investigation [of] PhilHealth, we’re not yet done with that. DPWH was already mentioned by the President. Then the usual suspects—we’ve always been hearing about them — BOC, BIR, and even agencies directly under the DOJ like LRA. We’ll also look into irregularities or some corrupt activities happening there.”
“The probe [of] the Bureau of Immigration is [going on]. We’ve done a lot [in Immigration], many have been suspended and recently complaints were filed [with] the (Office of the) Ombudsman. Changes have also been made at the Bureau of Corrections,” Guevarra added.
Fed up with worsening scandal in PhilHealth, loud accusations of “parking” pork in the budget of the DPWH, and charges that immigration officials and employees pocketed up to P40 billion in bribes to let Chinese illegal workers into the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte directed Guevarra on Tuesday to launch a sweeping investigation of graft in the entire government and to concentrate on the DPWH.
Duterte issued a memorandum that expanded the work of an earlier task force formed to investigate allegations of widespread graft in PhilHealth and authorized Guevarra to form as many panels as necessary for the new investigation.
The directive gives the DOJ the power to decide what allegations to investigate and to work with other agencies.
Guevarra’s task force will look into irregularities at state agencies until the end of Mr. Duterte’s term in 2022.
On Wednesday, Guevarra said the task force would start investigating priority agencies at the national level.
“But if we need to go down to regional level, local level, we’ll do that,” he said, citing PhilHealth, where “irregularities mostly happen not in the central office but in regional offices.”
Free hand
While it was the President who authorized the investigation, Guevarra gave assurance that the DOJ had a free hand in investigating and filing charges with the Ombudsman.
“The President has given the DOJ a free hand in filing cases, but if presidential appointees are to be charged, official courtesy demands that the appointing authority be informed in advance,” Guevarra said.
“Our output is not just recommendatory. We [will] file cases directly with the Ombudsman,” he added.
Guevarra said he met on Tuesday with Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento and National Bureau of Investigation Officer in Charge Eric Distor to organize the new task force.
Discussed, he said, were “methods of securing information regarding incidences of corruption in government [agencies], and possible approaches [to investigating] allegations of corruption, taking into consideration the gravity of the allegations and its impact on the delivery of government services.”
He said it was agreed during the meeting that the core group of the PhilHealth task force headed by the DOJ would again handle the new, wider investigation. This group includes the NBI, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, Office of the Special Assistant to the President (Osap), National Prosecution Service, and Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Presidential appointees
Guevarra said the Osap had been requested to join the task force for the handling of presidential appointees who would be investigated and whose service might be immediately terminated by the President.
The Commission on Audit (COA), Civil Service Commission, and the Ombudsman would also be asked to work with the task force, Guevarra said.
The task force, Guevarra said, has “twin goals” — prosecute grafters and introduce measures to fight graft in state agencies, educate the citizenry on the evils of corruption, and promote the values of integrity and civic-mindedness.
Guevarra said the task force would set up a secretariat for citizens to report graft. It will also investigate cases arising from COA reports and congressional inquiries, he said.
Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said he would form a high-level group in the Department of Labor and Employment to help the DOJ-led investigation.
Bello said his department’s task force would be led by two undersecretaries and representatives from Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, and National Labor Relations Commission who would be mostly lawyers.
Undersecretary for Labor Relations Benjo Benavidez said the task force would investigate graft complaints and refer officials who should be charged to the DOJ-led task force for the filing of complaints.
—With a report from Dona Z. Pazzibugan