Task force formed to probe other ‘pork’ scams

MANILA, Philippines - The government has created an inter-agency task force to investigate other pork barrel fund scams not related to the one allegedly perpetrated by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the new body under the Inter-Agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council (IAAGCC) is tasked to conduct fact-finding probe on scams currently not handled by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

She said one of the irregularities to be looked into by the task force involves non-government organizations linked to a certain Godofredo Roque.

“The main mandate of the task force is to make independent evaluation of and build up cases from the COA special audit report not covered by the NBI investigation,” she told reporters in an interview yesterday.

She said the probe is in compliance with a Supreme Court order last month for the government to “investigate and prosecute all government officials and/or private individuals for possible criminal offenses related to the irregular, improper and/or unlawful disbursement of all funds under the pork barrel system.”

De Lima said the IAAGCC probe would include lawmakers mentioned in the COA report, but were not investigated by the NBI since they had no links to Napoles. Napoles is in detention at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna for a serious illegal detention case filed by a relative and former staff Benhur Luy, who had squealed on her activities.

The IAAGCC task force would be composed of representatives from the Department of Justice, NBI, Office of the Ombudsman and Commission on Audit.

De Lima also said the NBI has started its investigation into the use of fake Special Allotment Release Orders (SARO) in the PDAF scam. She declined to provide details, however. “If we give you bits and pieces of results, that would be prone to misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and speculations. That’s why it’s best to just wait for the results,” she said.

A SARO is a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) document informing an agency that certain funds are appropriated for a specific project.

It serves as the authorization for such agency to obligate funds and start a bidding or procurement process.

Another document, known as Notice of Cash Allocation, is subsequently issued by the DBM as advisory that actual cash in Land Bank is available to support the obligation.

Earlier, De Lima revealed that the NBI probe involved 12 to 13 SAROs presented to the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Offices not only in Cagayan Valley (Region 2) but also in Calabarzon (Region 4A), Western Visayas (Region 6), and Soccsksargen (Region 12).

She said the SARO from Region 2 was later found to be fraudulent.

De Lima said that except for differences in font styles, fake SAROs are almost identical to authentic ones.

The DOJ chief said the fake SAROs were discovered only last month at the height of the controversy over the pork barrel fund mess involving Napoles.

In collusion with some lawmakers, Napoles allegedly skimmed millions of pesos from their Priority Development Assistance Funds through her several bogus NGOs.