{"id":273062,"date":"2020-10-27T02:18:11","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T06:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=273062"},"modified":"2020-10-27T02:18:11","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T06:18:11","slug":"duterte-wants-government-wide-corruption-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/10\/27\/duterte-wants-government-wide-corruption-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte wants government-wide corruption probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte talks to the people after holding a meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) core members at the Matina Enclaves in Davao City on October 26, 2020. ARMAN BAYLON\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate allegations of corruption \u201cin the entire government\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a pre-recorded speech aired Tuesday, Duterte read out loud a directive giving the DOJ authority to decide which allegations to investigate.<\/p>\n

He, however, said he wanted the DOJ to have a special focus on the corrupt-ridden Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may create as many panels as it deems necessary or adequate and may invite or direct other bodies or agencies of the government to assist or be part of such panel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the DOJ may also prosecute and file appropriate charges against those involved in anomalies investigated whether against the government or private person as may be warranted by evidence gathered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power and authority of the DOJ under existing laws and previous directives to investigate the commission of crimes and prosecute violators shall not in any way be diminished by this directive,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Duterte said the directive would be in effect until June 30, 2022 unless sooner lifted or revoked.<\/p>\n

While recognizing that the Office of the Ombudsman has the power to investigate and prosecute government officials and employees, Duterte said the Office of the Presidency can also conduct its own investigations and file cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ombudsman\u00a0‘yung pinaka<\/em>\u00a0(is) number one. Ideally,\u00a0‘yung malaking pera diretso mo na sa<\/em>\u00a0(when huge sums of money are involved, you send them straight to the) Ombudsman if I were to have my say.\u00a0Pero ang gobyerno, ang<\/em>\u00a0(But the government, the) Presidency can investigate, can send you to prison\u00a0kaya nga kung ang<\/em>\u00a0prosecution\u00a0nito<\/em>\u00a0is the (but prosecution will be determined by the) Ombudsman ultimately,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last week, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar has created the Task Force Against Graft and Corruption that would look into the supposed corruption within his agency.<\/p>\n

Duterte has repeatedly absolved Villar of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing against Sec. Villar. He\u2019s one of the hard-working at\u00a0maraming<\/em>\u00a0accomplishments si Sec. Villar. But you know, accomplishments alone to me should not suffice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018No escape\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Last August, Duterte asked the DOJ to create a task force that would probe alleged irregularities hounding the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).<\/p>\n

He bared that even if he wanted to do so, he could not abolish the state insurer because \u201cit\u2019s not easy\u201d to create a new agency.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, he also warned corrupt PhilHealth officials that they could not escape liability even if they stepped down from their posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me remind everybody in this government\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0your resignation will not save your neck.\u00a0Alam mo bakit<\/em>\u00a0(You know why)? You are not allowed to resign if there is a pending case against you.\u00a0Mag-resign ka man, hindi ka mag<\/em>\u00a0(Even if you resign, you don\u2019t) report, but then you would be summoned or subpoenaed not because you are already out of government but because for all intents and purposes, you are still part of the government. You are not allowed to escape liability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte, a former prosecutor, said they were wrong to think that resigning would prevent them from facing administrative or criminal charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not try to resign to escape culpability. That ain\u2019t accepted\u00a0dito sa gobyerno<\/em>\u00a0(here in government). You cannot resign when you have a case pending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate allegations of corruption \u201cin the entire government\u201d. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":273063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273064,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273062\/revisions\/273064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}