Graft probe to use media, COA reports for leads

MANILA, Philippines — The various investigative reports that the Inquirer and other news organizations have published about graft-ridden government projects will be among the leads to be followed by the task force formed to launch a sweeping investigation of corruption across all state agencies, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said on Tuesday.

Guevarra, named by President Rodrigo Duterte to head the renewed fight against the misuse of public funds, said the multiagency group would also review the annual audit reports of the Commission of Audit (COA), which were the basis of exposés on graft and corruption by Sen. Panfilo Lacson and other lawmakers.

As he had previously mentioned, Guevarra said the task force’s operations center, to be set up at the main office of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Padre Faura Street, Manila, would receive complaints from the public about questionable government projects and programs.

“While waiting for specific complaints from the public, the task force will look into existing COA fraud audit reports, investigative journalism reports and other available information,” he told reporters in a Viber message.

“We are still in the process of organizing the operations center, [which] will gather reports and receive complaints from the public. Then they will evaluate which of these complaints or reported cases deserve further investigation,” he said.

Composite teams

After determining the cases that it should pursue, the task force would form “composite investigation teams” to lead the inquiry, he added.

The Inquirer recently published a series of reports on the allegedly irregular release of billions of pesos in COVID-19 response funds by Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), which led to the resignation of some of its senior executives.

The reports came exactly a year after the newspaper published a similar investigative report on the alleged “ghost” dialysis patients scam and other rackets that had allegedly cost PhilHealth some P154 billion since 2013.

Guevarra also said the DOJ-led task force had yet to secure a copy of the report on an investigation that the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) had done into alleged irregularities in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“We’ll give it very serious consideration once [we have] received [it],” he said.

Last month, Mr. Duterte identified the DPWH among the most corrupt state agencies, saying no DPWH project could start without money changing hands.

The President directed Guevarra to concentrate the task force investigation first on the DPWH.