Many complaints reaching anti-corruption task force involve DPWH projects —Guevarra

Published November 16, 2020 04:10 PM By NICOLE-ANNE C. LAGRIMAS, GMA News

Many of the complaints that have reached Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra's anti-corruption task force so far involve projects related to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the DOJ chief said Monday.

Guevarra had identified the DPWH as one of five agencies to be prioritized in the investigation, alongside the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Land Registration Authority.

President Rodrigo Duterte has, however, appeared to defend DPWH Secretary

  Mark Villar, saying the official is too rich to be corrupt. He said he believes corruption takes place in the lower offices instead.

Following Duterte's statement, the Department of Justice said Villar is not exempt from the investigation.

Guevarra said the task force has received around 20 complaints as of Monday.

"But not all these pertain to transactions or projects worth at least P1 billion," he said in a message to reporters.

He said the task force operations center filters and processes complaints as they come in.

Guevarra previously said the task force is using the P1 billion threshold as a "guideline" in setting its priorities on which government transactions or projects to investigate.

"We will also investigate complaints about corrupt practices involving smaller amounts of money but with high impact on the delivery of government service to the people," he said earlier this month.—AOL, GMA News

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