JUSTICE Secretary Menardo I. Gueverra on Thursday said that he has instructed the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to continue its case build against other personalities who should be held criminally liable for alleged misuse of their Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) allotments.
The Senate chief prober of government anomalies, meanwhile, reiterated that former President Benigno S. Aquino III and ex-Budget Secretary Florencio Abad should face “malversation and graft charges not just usurpation of powers” for diverting Congress-approved budget allocations to bankroll the Aquino administration’s controversial DAP.
Sen. Richard J. Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigations, on Thursday voiced his deep disappointment, even as he admits agreeing with the Ombudsman’s initial decision to indict Aquino and Abad for the lesser offense of usurpation.
“I agree with the Ombudsman that there was usurpation…Though I don’t know all the facts yet, I would have chosen the more stringent offenses which are graft and corruption and malversation,” Gordon said, adding: “They [Aquino and Abad] were even guilty of malversation, technical malversation.”
The senator said the malversation charges already absorbed the case against usurpation. “In order to commit malversation, they usurped the powers of Congress,” he added.
In a television interview, Guevarra also expressed readiness to talk with detained pork-barrel scam alleged mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles if the latter would signify her intention to share more information against some persons without any condition, such as transferring him to a safehouse.
The justice chief reiterated that Napoles can no longer be placed under the Witness Protection Program and transferred to a safehouse by the DOJ since it is the Sandiganbayan which now has jurisdiction over her because of her pending pork-barrel cases.
“So, we cannot do that, we cannot move her to a safehouse, even if she wanted to because the court already have control over the case and over her person,” Guevarra noted.
Guevarra added Napoles may still provide information even without protection from the DOJ if she wants to.
Guevarra issued the statement this following the recent decision of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to indict Aquino and Abad for usurpation of legislative powers and dismiss the technical malversation charges against them.
Anti-pork barrel groups led by former Manila councilor and now Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission commissioner Greco Belgica have earlier submitted records with the DOJ that allegedly showed a conspiracy between the Aquino administration and some lawmakers for alleged misuse of DAP.
The groups are seeking the indictment of Aquino and other officials for the anomalous disbursements of public funds through DAP, an economic stimulus program of the previous administration.
Butch Fernandez and Joel R. San Juan