Palace to Tiangco: DOJ has say on Aquino allies’ ‘pork’ case

UNA secretary general Tobias Tiangco. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Sunday denied it was ignoring President Benigno Aquino III’s allies implicated in the pork barrel scam.

The statement came after Navotas Representative Toby Tiangco, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) secretary general, pointed out that nothing was being done to hold accountable the 32 administration lawmakers tagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) for allegedly misusing their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

“At sa simula’t sapol, malinaw po ang batayang prinsipyo ng ating Pangulo at pamahalaan, kinakailangang hayaan iyong ebidensiya na magturo kung saan patungo ang imbestigasyon,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said over radio.

(Since the very beginning, the basic principles of the President and the government is clear, let the evidence guide the direction of the investigations.)

Coloma insisted that the Office of the President has no hand on the cases because the Department of Justice (DOJ) has the jurisdiction over the probe.

“Nakapagsampa na po sila ng mga complaint sa Office of the Ombudsman at siguro po [ang] pinakamainam ay hayaan na lang nating maganap nang buo ang mga prosesong iyan,” he said.

(The DOJ has already filed complaints at the Office of the Ombudsman and it would be proper to just let the whole process proceed as follows.)

He said that while the COA findings mentioned the 32 lawmakers, each case has a different status.

“Hindi ibig sabihin na kapag may naiulat na COA findings ay dapat na kasuhan na ang nakasangkot doon. Iba’t iba po ang nilalaman ng mga COA audit report kaya yan ang pinag-aaralan at sinisiyasat ng ating Department of Justice,” Coloma said.

(It doesn’t mean that if someone is mentioned in the COA findings, the person must immediately be charged. The COA audit report has a variety of findings and that is what the DOJ is studying.)

The Secretary said they are confident with how the DOJ is conducting the investigation on who among the lawmakers misused their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

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