Task force created to probe ‘pork’ misuse

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — An inter-agency task force was created to examine misuse of the pork barrel following the Supreme Court ruling that declared it unconstitutional, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Wednesday.

The inter-agency is composed of the Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation, Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit.

De Lima said the mandate of the task force is to start a case build-up beginning with the examination of the COA audit reports that are not included in the investigation being conducted by the NBI.

The NBI’s focus is the pork misuse which involved the non-government organizations of Janet Lim-Napoles.

The creation of the task force was in response to the high court’s directive to check into the abuse committed by lawmakers in disbursing the pork barrel fund. The pork barrel fund started during the time of President Corazon Aquino.

De Lima earlier said the high court’s directive is a “daunting task.”

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