The House of Representatives on Wednesday started the inquiry into the disbursement of the P35-million reward money offered to speed up the solution of the Batocabe killing.
The House committee on public accounts, chaired by Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Michael Defensor, is looking into reports that a bulk, or about P30 million of the reward money, has disappeared.
Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe, 52, and his security escort, Senior Police Officer 2 Orlando Diaz, who were shot dead by unidentified assailants shortly before Christmas in 2018.
Of the P35-million bounty, P13 million comes from the House of Representatives; P20 million from the Office of President Rodrigo Duterte; and the provincial government of Albay, P2 million.
Brig. Gen. Joel Napoleon Coronel, acting chief of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, told congressmen that P6 million had been given to one witness and another P7 million had been shared with each other by seven other witnesses, leaving only P13 million accounted for.
Coronel also said the P2 million from the Albay government had been remitted to the province’s police provincial director.
Coronel said the PNP did not have any record of the disbursement and liquidation of the remaining P20-million reward money.
“I think this will relate to the amount released by the Office of the President. Records on the distribution and liquidation of which were submitted directly to the OP and I do not have the records… it did not pass through the CIDG,” Coronel said.
Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel proposed to the panel that the police provincial director of Albay be invited to the next committee hearing to render a report on the disbursement of the P2 million.
He also called for a full-blown congressional inquiry into the matter.
“We should conduct an inquiry on where the P20 million went because this is taxpayers’ money. We have every right to know where this went. We should know where the P20 million plus P2 million went,” Pimentel said.
He also proposed that former PNP chief Oscar Albayalde be invited in the next hearing.