Ombudsman: 5 cases vs Aquino still being probed

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales answers queries during the Meet Inquirer Multimedia forum held at the Inquirer office, Tuesday.INQUIRER PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC

MANILA — Five criminal complaints against former President Benigno Aquino III are still being investigated, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has said.

“He is corrupt-free. Give that to him,” Morales said during the Meet the Inquirer Multimedia forum on Tuesday.

“He leads by example, but still, there were some misfits,” she said, without elaborating who those “misfits” might be.

Still, she assured the public that the complaints filed since Aquino was stripped of immunity from suit in July upon the end of his term “are still under investigation; we call it active.”

Criminal suits filed against him include the criminal complaints filed by three batches of relatives of Philippine National Police Special Action Force troopers killed during the botched Mamasapano operation in January 2015.

Aquino was sued for reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicide as a result of his alleged negligence in approving the flawed operation. He had also authorized then PNP Director-General Alan Purisima to handle the operation despite being preventively suspended at the time while facing a graft investigation by the Ombudsman.

Activists also slapped Aquino with a technical malversation complaint over the Disbursement Acceleration Program, certain budgetary practices of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court with finality on February 2015.

Former Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales also filed a graft complaint against Aquino and his Finance secretary Cesar Purisima, for failing to collect P100-billion taxes by allegedly turning a blind eye on Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.’s alleged smuggling of gasoline components, imports which the firm considered nontaxable.

As reported by the INQUIRER in October, Aquino already countered the allegations and sought the dismissal of the complaints.

Meanwhile, Aquino’s hand-picked presidential candidate, former Interior secretary Manuel Roxas II, is also facing investigation over alleged anomalies in the awarding of contracts for the deteriorating Metro Rail Transit 3.

“Some are pending investigation; some have been disposed of,” Morales said during the forum.  SFM