Morales leaves pork probes up to Duterte appointee

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales is leaving the remaining pork barrel scam cases up to her successor who will be appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Morales on Monday said she was breaking her promise to resolve the so-called “third batch” of pork barrel scam complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation in August 2015.

Although she had nearly three years to act on the cases, she said the volume of her workload was “simply too overpowering.”

“Unfortunately, given the volume of cases that the office is handling, I am afraid we will not able to finish all PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) cases,” Morales said in an interview with CNN Philippines’ talk show “The Source.”

Before retirement

Asked if she could wrap up the investigations before her retirement in July, Morales said: “I really don’t know.”

Her latest remark was a far cry from her previous commitment at the Meet the Inquirer Multimedia forum on Dec. 13, 2016. Back then, she said: “We’re trying to wipe out all our cases involving PDAF by end of next year (2017).”

Morales also said that since the Ombudsman determined whether there was probable cause to bring high-profile corruption cases to the Sandiganbayan, it was its task to say who could qualify as state witness.

This meant the decision to turn alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles into a state witness—and drop her as an accused—would have to be made by Morales’ successor.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Tomasito Villarin said leaving the pork barrel scam investigation “would likely see it ‘go down the drain’ as the Duterte administration is not serious on pursuing them.”

Napoles’ lawyer

Pappointed Napoles’ lawyer, Lanee Cui-David, as deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue during his first month in office.

In January 2017, Solicitor General Jose Calida contradicted state prosecutors and recommended that the Court of Appeals reverse Napoles’ conviction for the illegal detention of whistle-blower Benhur Luy.

The appeals court acquitted Napoles in May, although she still had to be detained pending her trial for plunder in the Sandiganbayan. The following month, former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II created a task force to reinvestigate the PDAF scam.

Aguirre later drew controversy after he granted Napoles’ provisional admission into the witness protection program.

He said Napoles executed a new affidavit implicating three more senators in the misuse of legislators’ PDAF allocations.