{"id":276402,"date":"2020-11-23T20:53:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T01:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=276402"},"modified":"2020-11-23T21:03:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T02:03:03","slug":"duterte-to-provide-ombudsman-list-of-solons-getting-kickbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/11\/23\/duterte-to-provide-ombudsman-list-of-solons-getting-kickbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Duterte to provide Ombudsman list of solons getting kickbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte joins his fellow leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries in the virtual 27th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting at the Malaca\u00f1ang Palace on November 20, 2020. TOTO LOZANO\/ PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night said he would refer to the Office of the Ombudsman information he received about some members of the House of Representatives who allegedly received kickbacks from project contractors.<\/p>\n

In a taped speech, Duterte bared that he received a list of lawmakers who were allegedly involved in corruption in projects in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).<\/p>\n

He said the list was given to him by Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Commissioner Greco Belgica.<\/p>\n

However, he refused to investigate and name the said lawmakers saying he has no jurisdiction over members of a co-equal branch of government.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung itapon mo sa akin<\/em>\u00a0(If you pass it to me), I have no other recourse,\u00a0itapon ko rin \u2018yan doon sa<\/em>\u00a0(I\u2019ll pass it to the) Ombudsman because it is the only \u2014 it is the only investigating agency that has jurisdiction over congressmen,\u00a0hindi ako<\/em>\u00a0(not me). I cannot investigate congressmen. That would be an encroachment of the power,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte said he was not trying to \u201cwash his hands\u201d but insisted that he did not have the power to probe solons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to wash my hands \u2014 I am now dwelling on the law. If I cannot investigate the congressmen or\u00a0itong mga<\/em>\u00a0kickback\u00a0nila sa mga<\/em>\u00a0commission\u00a0sa mga<\/em>\u00a0projects sa kanilang probinsiya na pinili nila \u2018yung mga<\/em>\u00a0contractors (or their kickbacks from commissions in projects in their provinces),\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

According to Duterte, he decided not to publicly name the congressmen, not because he was afraid or covering up for them. He said he simply wanted to clarify the matter with the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi sabihin ako\u2019y natatakot or may kino<\/em>-cover-an ako na<\/em>\u00a0congressman,\u00a0wala. Wala. Pagdating niyan sa listahan<\/em>\u00a0(I\u2019m not scared or covering up for any congressman. Nothing. When it comes to the list), it will be given to me and me alone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that even if he asked the Department of Justice to review the list of lawmakers, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra would also end up passing it on to the Ombudsman.<\/p>\n

Last month, Belgica disclosed that some solons were under probe for allegedly conspiring with DPWH officials and contractors to commit graft.<\/p>\n

He, however, said the PACC would not disclose to the public the lawmakers\u2019 names being investigated.<\/p>\n

Since the start of his term in 2016, Duterte has been releasing a so-called “narco-list” containing incumbent and former officials, lawmakers, judges, and uniformed personnel suspected to be involved in the illegal drug trade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night said he would refer to the Office of the Ombudsman information he received …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":276217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276402","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=276402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276403,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276402\/revisions\/276403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}