AMID criticism that she is being selective in prosecuting corruption cases involving the pork barrel of lawmakers, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima backtracked on Tuesday and said the third batch of cases will be filed two weeks time.
De Lima said the filing of the charges remains a priority of the Department of Justice even as Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Jose Hernandez wondered why De Lima and her team of lawyers have not filed the third batch of charges.
The opposition United Nationalist Alliance also kept up the pressure on De Lima and asked her to explain why leaders of the ruling Liberal Party are missing from the latest list of 49 lawmakers who allegedly misused their pork barrel funds.
But De Lima said she directed Justice Undersecretary Jose Justiniano to submit a final recommendation on the third set of graft charges prepared by the National Bureau of Investigation against former and incumbent lawmakers implicated in the PDAF scam.
“I told them to make time for this and to once and for all give me already a final recommendation on the third batch so as not to delay the cases further,” the DOJ chief said, in an interview.
De Lima explained that the delay in the filing of the third batch, which was reportedly already set since early last year, was due to “certain issues” – particularly the forgery of signatures of officials involved on documents gathered by NBI.
“That is the only issue left – what will be the effect of the findings of fake signatures if the cases are filed. I want them to focus on that,” the Justice Secretary stressed.
But Sandiganbayan Justice Hernandez, chairman of the Fourt Division which is hearing the first batch of cases, asked government prosecutors why they have not filed any charges for the other personalities.
“File the second and third batches. What are you waiting for? You have a very willing witness [in Marina Sula]. Without her testimony you will have no case,” Hernandez asked government lawyers in an open hearing.
“People are eagerly waiting for the second and third batch(es). When important things are happening you have to speak up just like what this witness is doing,” Hernandez said.
But UNA interim president and Navotas Rep. Tobias Tiangco wondered why there were no LP leaders in the latest list released by the Commission on Audit.
“The list is incomplete as there are no bigwigs in it, only members of the Liberal Party who were given crumbs,” Tiangco said.
“COA already reported that there are disbursements that went to top LP people that constitute plunder, but they are not included in the lists that the agency released,” Tiangco added.
Tiangco said that the list is meant as a virtual showcase for the public to see that the administration is really into anti-corruption drive.
“It is more like of a smokescreen, and the administration is using the COA to cover up the LP bigwigs,” Tiangco said.
The COA released a list containing the names of the legislators that recommended funds meant to uplift the lives of Muslim Filipinos. A total of P670 million of funding went to doubtful non-government organizations (NGOs) from 2011 to 2013, according to the audit body.
The COA said that the funds came from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), as well as the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). The funds were released through the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) and the agency allowed the funds transferred to NGOs.