DOJ has enough lawyers for anti-corruption probe, other tasks — Guevarra

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has enough lawyers and prosecutors to handle "extra tasks" assigned to the agency, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Thursday.

Aside from being the state's principal law agency and its prosecution arm, the DOJ is now also the lead department in a government-wide corruption investigation ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte.

In addition, the DOJ chairs an inter-agency panel that has committed to review deadly police anti-drug operations. Guevarra also leads an inter-agency committee that investigates cases of political violence. 

"So far we have enough state counsels and state prosecutors to handle all these extra tasks assigned to the DOJ," Guevarra said in a message to reporters. He said they will soon add young lawyers appointed as prosecution attorneys to the department.

"If need be, we'll draw from the legal complement of agencies attached to the DOJ, other than the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation)," he said.

He said the case disposition rate of the National Prosecution Service "has remained high."

The DOJ has several attached agencies, including the NBI, the Bureau of Immigration, the Bureau of Corrections, the Public Attorney's Office, and the Parole and Probation Administration. The Office of the Solicitor General is also an attached agency but only for budgetary purposes.

Operations center

In the latest development in its corruption investigation, the DOJ-led task force met on Wednesday to continue setting up its secretariat or operations center.

Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar said there will be a case evaluation committee that will screen all information and complaints.

For the time being, the public may send tips to the DOJ Action Center through its email address dojac@doj.gov.ph or its hotline 85212930, she said.

Villar said the operations center "would be receiving information, complaints and other requests to investigate certain persons or certain anomalous transactions that people may have knowledge of. The operations center also has the function of filtering these information and complaints, to recommend appropriate action on the complaint.

"For example, it can be referred to a specific agency. It can be referred to the NBI or a special investigation team which SOJ also calls as a strike force for further investigation or for further fact finding. Or it can be referred to the core group if it’s a big ticket item that needs to be discussed on how to approach it."

Villar advised tipsters to include in their report the name of the government official allegedly involved in corruption, the agency he or she belongs to and other incidents related to the alleged anomalous transaction.

"If it will be blind item, it will be so hard to assess the veracity of reports. The person reporting must have hopefully some personal knowledge on the act being reported about," she said.

"If the information is already complete such that it would be enough basis to file a complaint, then it can be referred either to the prosecutor if it involves an official below salary grade 27 or to the ombudsman if it is 27 and above," she added.

Guevarra earlier said the task force will prioritize investigating the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Land Registration Authority. — RSJ, GMA News