MANILA, Philippines - The investigation on the alleged anomaly involving P5 billion in funds from the defunct National Agribusiness Corp. (Nabcor) in 2007 has been suspended for several months.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed this yesterday, citing the need for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to gather more evidence on the controversy – where acting Health Secretary Janette Garin has been implicated – and for witnesses to submit more evidence.
“If the witnesses have the documents being required of them, then the probe could proceed anytime,” De Lima said.
De Lima has confirmed Garin, a fellow Cabinet official, is indeed a subject of the probe after being implicated in the affidavits of former Nabcor officials Rhodora Mendoza and Victor Cacal.
The two former Nabcor officials bared the alleged anomalies in eight previous projects of the agency last March, implicating Garin and other former lawmakers.
De Lima said the fact-finding investigation is being handled by the NBI’s special task force, the same team that investigated the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
But upon checking, De Lima said the NBI probe barely moved after about seven months.
“There were many documents asked from them (Mendoza and Cacal) that they failed to present,” De Lima explained.
De Lima said the NBI was also uncertain about pursuing the probe since the whistle-blowers, accompanied by lawyer Levi Baligod, had also submitted their affidavits before the Office of the Ombudsman.
“They first went to the Ombudsman before Baligod brought them to us. They showed certain documents, but I wasn’t sure if they officially subscribed to their sworn statements,” she said.
De Lima however pointed out the NBI has not abandoned its duty to investigate the allegations against Garin since the probe would only proceed once necessary documents are gathered.
Garin, a former representative of Iloilo’s first district, is a member of the ruling Liberal Party. Garin denied the claim of Mendoza and Cacal that she and nine other lawmakers received P1 million each from Nabcor funds during the 2007 elections.