Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has ordered an investigation into alleged anomalies surrounding the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program and the Priority Development Assistance Fund, as well as into a “draft complaint” and some evidence against former president Benigno Aquino III and his administration’s officials for malversation.
Aguirre in three Department of Justice (DOJ) orders signed Thursday directed National Bureau of Investigation Director Dante Gierran to form a special task force that would investigate the alleged corrupt activities of the former president and his officials, according to a report by Carlo Mateo on Super Radyo dzBB on Friday.
This is in response to a complaint filed by former Manila councilor Greco Belgica of the Coalition for Investigation and Prosecution that accuses Aquino and other former officials of malversation.
The DOJ released three separate Department Orders (DO 749, 751 and 752) on Thursday, each directing Gierran to investigate Belgica’s draft complaint; and the DAP and the PDAF “anomalies, for the purpose of re-opening its investigation by" the DOJ.
One of the three DOs released by DOJ
One of the orders was in response to a draft complaint and “new pieces of evidences” filed by former Manila councilor Greco Belgica, representing the Coalition for Investigation and Prosecution, last week, which accuses Aquino and other former officials of malversation.
Belgica confirmed with GMA News Online that no formal complaint has been submitted yet.
“We submitted all the evidences against DAP for further investigation of the NBI and DOJ,” he said in a message. “The complaint is only a draft. If they find the evidence sufficient then they can use the evidence and the draft complaint as their guide.”
The draft complaint also named as respondents former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, former Transportation and Communications Chief Joseph Emilio Abaya, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, Senator Franklin Drilon, former Budget Undersecretary Mario Relampagos, Office of the Senate Secretary Director General Yolanda Doblon, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, and other John Does.
Belgica had singled out Trillanes in an earlier complaint for allegedly using his DAP allocation for a “ghost” lamp post project.
In a message, Belgica said their group “only pray[s] for truth and justice to be served.”
He said DAP is a “crime that has been decided four years ago”—it was, in fact, parts of it were declared unconstitutional in 2014—but that its “investigation and prosecution of its perpetrators has been blocked since then by those who committed it and with many of those who still remain in power.”
“But DOJ and NBI can now use our template to build up a case against all culprits regardless of political affiliation and verify what we submitted,” he said.
“All our evidence has been submitted to DOJ. Wala na kaming hawak. Kung ano ang totoo yun lang. Parusahan ang dapat parusahan, kulong kung kulong, (bitay kung bitay), absuwelto kung absuwelto, para mabago ang dapat mabago,” he added. —LBG, GMA News
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