{"id":273112,"date":"2020-10-27T09:06:40","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T13:06:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=273112"},"modified":"2020-10-27T09:06:40","modified_gmt":"2020-10-27T13:06:40","slug":"more-authorities-probe-corruption-the-better-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/10\/27\/more-authorities-probe-corruption-the-better-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"More authorities probe corruption \u2018the better\u2019: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to head a mega task force as he was not satisfied with current anti-corruption efforts. (PCOO file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday attributed President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to order the creation of a mega task force to probe corruption in the entire government to have more agencies involved in getting rid of dishonest public officials.<\/p>\n

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte instructed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to head a mega task force as he was not satisfied with current anti-corruption efforts.<\/p>\n

Roque said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra may invite representatives from the Office of the Ombudsman, National Bureau of Investigation, Civil Service Commission, and Commission on Audit to join the task force.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing his own personal standards,\u00a0hindi<\/em>\u00a0satisfied\u00a0si Pangulo sa paglinis sa gobyerno.<\/em>\u00a0It\u2019s really a systems problem\u00a0na kinakailangan talaga tutukan<\/em>\u00a0(the President is not satisfied with efforts to cleanse the government. It\u2019s really a system problem that needs full attention),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also pointed out that the DOJ had 20 times more prosecutors to investigate anomalies hounding different departments compared to the Office of the Ombudsman.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if there is an Office of the Ombudsman, the biggest public prosecutor is still under the Department of Justice because the number of prosecutors that we have under the DOJ is simply\u2026 probably 20 times more than the lawyers that they have at the Office of the Ombudsman,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said Duterte also wanted to leave a legacy of a less corrupt government before his term ends in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cIto po\u2019y kumbaga<\/em>\u00a0leaving a legacy\u00a0at ang<\/em>\u00a0legacy\u00a0niya talaga ay patunayan na kung talagang tututukan at gagamitin ang<\/em>\u00a0political will,\u00a0ay talaga pong mababawasan ang korupsyon bagamat aminado na tayo na hindi tuluyang mawawala ang korupsyon<\/em>\u00a0(He wants to leave a legacy, and his legacy is to prove that if given full attention and with political will, we can really reduce corruption even if we are aware that it cannot be fully eradicated),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque assured that the functions of the mega task force would not overlap with that of other agencies and constitutional bodies involved in investigating and prosecuting public officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala naman po \u2018yang magiging<\/em>\u00a0overlap\u00a0unang-una, meron pong<\/em>\u00a0[memorandum of agreement]\u00a0sa panig po ng<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman\u00a0at ang<\/em>\u00a0DOJ\u00a0na pupuwede naman pong magimbestiga rin ang<\/em>\u00a0DOJ\u00a0pagdating po sa mga kaso pagdating po sa paglabag ng<\/em>\u00a0Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (There won\u2019t be overlap because there is a MOA between the Ombudsman and DOJ that the DOJ may also investigate cases in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, which is authorized to do lifestyle checks and fact-finding inquiries public officials, may also be invited to join the mega task force.<\/p>\n

\u201cMas marami pong mga tauhang gobyerno na nakatutok sa korupsyon, mas mabuti<\/em>\u00a0(The more authorities giving attention to corruption, the better),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his pre-recorded speech aired Tuesday, Duterte asked the DOJ to probe allegations of corruption \u201cin the entire government\u201d, but with a special focus on the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Tuesday attributed President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s decision to order the creation of a mega task force to probe …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":269140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273112","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\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273113,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273112\/revisions\/273113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}