With only five former congressmen now facing charges in connection with the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam, anti-PDAF crusader Levi Baligod chided former Justice secretary and now Liberal Party senatorial bet Leila De Lima for the “selective and prejudiced” application of justice as he revealed that he had provided the Department of Justice with information implicating 120 congressmen in the pork barrel scam.
Baligod, who is also running for a seat in the senate, lamented that despite providing a list of officials that were implicated in the pork barrel scam that included 14 senators, 120 congress representatives, and several bogus NGOs, “under the watch of De Lima… cases were filed only for the three opposition senators—tagged as Pogi, Sexy, and Tanda by my client Ben Hur Luy—and 25 members of the House.”
“The former DoJ secretary runs for the Senate under the banner of justice without fear or favor,” said Baligod.
“But in the much celebrated case against the scammers of the legislative pork barrel, the state prosecutors are working at a snail’s pace.”
Baligod said that with “the slow disposition of justice against legislators who plunder the nation’s coffers” he could not help but question the platform of De Lima.
“I believe that the scales of justice were selective and prejudiced during her term.”
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales last week affirmed the findings of probable cause to indict former representatives Rozzano Rufino Biazon of Muntinlupa City, Rodolfo Valencia of Oriental Mindoro, Marc Douglas Cagas IV of Davao del Sur, Arrel Olaño of Davao del Norte, Arthur Pingoy Jr.of South Cotabato and several others in connection with the PDAF scam.
In five separate Orders, Ombudsman Morales directed the filing of Informations before the Sandiganbayan for violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019), Malversation (Article 217, Revised Penal Code), and Direct Bribery against the five congressmen and officials of the Energy Regulatory Commission including ERC Chairperson Zenaida Ducut, the Department of Budget and Management, Technology Resource Center, National Business Corp. and representatives of non-governmental organizations including Janet Lim Napoles.
The five cases stemmed from separate complaints filed by the National Bureau of Investigation and Baligod.