‘Pork’ cases may not be resolved within Noy’s term

MANILA, Philippines - The resolution of other pork barrel cases may take longer – possibly even going beyond President Aquino’s term in 2016 – as the interagency body tasked to investigate them is not duty-bound to finish its probe anytime soon, Malacañang said on Tuesday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said cases involving bogus non-government organizations (NGOs) other than those of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles – alleged pork barrel scam mastermind – have yet to be resolved.

She said there are about 80 other spurious NGOs being investigated by the Inter-Agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council (IAAGCC) composed of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Commission on Audit and the Department of Justice.

“The creation of IAAGCC was not under this administration, leading to the fact that it is not time-bound by the tenure of one President,” Valte pointed out. The body was created in 1999.

The Palace has vowed that the probe on the pork barrel scam would not be limited to bogus NGOs of Napoles.

“The particular investigation on the non-Napoles NGOs, as well as the Malampaya Fund scam, is under the ambit of the IAAGCC of which DOJ is a member,” Valte said.

“As mentioned in the COA report, there are around 80 NGOs,” she said. “The only difference is DOJ is on point when it comes to the Napoles cases, but the rest of it is being investigated by IAAGCC, by DOJ.”

Presidential Communications Operations Office  Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. had made clear in February that the investigation into the pork barrel fund scam would not be limited to NGOs and foundations linked to Napoles.

He said  pork misuse can be tracked through the normal financial audit of COA. “If these NGOs make it to the flow of funds of the national government agency, then they will surely be covered by the COA audit,” he said.

Malacañang is besieged with calls from some sectors for a wider probe. Critics of the administration are complaining that only those from the political opposition have been charged in connection with the multibillion-peso pork barrel fund scam.

“We continue to track and verify if there are still others, like the additional cases,” Coloma said, adding that the IAAGCC has not finished its probe yet.

Online call

Meanwhile, more than 10,000 people have joined an online petition asking Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile to step down from office after the ombudsman found probable cause to file plunder charges against them.

“The evidence of corruption against these three senators came out last year, but until now nothing has happened,” read the petition filed through platform Change.org.

“Shall we then just wait and do nothing? No! There is something we can do. Together we can call for the immediate resignation of Senators Estrada, Revilla and Enrile,” it added.

The petition was started on April 5 by #ScrapPorkNetwork, an alliance of different civil society organizations formed last year at the height of the pork barrel scam issue.                   â€“ With Janvic Mateo