DOJ to meet lawyer of PDAF scam whistle-blowers

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) is planning to meet with the former lawyer of the whistle-blowers in the pork barrel scam cases in its investigation on the supposed selective justice in the previous administration’s handling of the controversy.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said he plans to talk to Levito Baligod, former lawyer of state witnesses led by Benhur Luy, to dig deeper into the alleged suppression of evidence against several lawmakers and executive officials allied with the previous administration. 

“Yes, apart from Janet Napoles, we will also access attorney Baligod in the review of PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) cases,” Aguirre said in a text message yesterday.

Aguirre bared the plan after Baligod expressed support to the Duterte administration’s plan to revisit the PDAF cases amid lingering allegations that the DOJ under former justice secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima was “selective” in its fact-finding probe on corruption cases.

“I am convinced that the previous administration sabotaged the investigation because they closed down the implementing agencies. We no longer have sources of original documents because of this,” Baligod said in a separate interview.

Baligod also claimed that the previous administration abolished the implementing agencies that received unobligated PDAF funds in a possible move to hide sources of evidence against all lawmakers who benefited from the scam allegedly perpetrated by jailed businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Baligod said that he submitted to the DOJ documents linking 100 congressmen and 14 senators in the PDAF scam, but De Lima filed charges only against 28 lawmakers. Those charged in the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan are mostly from the opposition to the previous administration.

He vowed to cooperate with Aguirre’s plan to reopen the investigation into the scam.

“We are confident of President Duterte’s promise of an honest to goodness investigation. If we can do that, we will expose many other corrupt officials who are still in the government,” Baligod said.

But Aguirre stressed that any new findings on the PDAF scam would still have to go through the process set by law.

“The DOJ has only secondary jurisdiction over PDAF cases. It is the Ombudsman who has primary jurisdiction as the respondents are mostly government officials,” the DOJ chief explained.

Aguirre earlier said that the DOJ reinvestigation was ordered by President Duterte “as part of his platform to rid the government of corruption.”

He believes there was something fishy in the manner the previous administration conducted the investigation, citing information that the previous DOJ administration “suppressed evidence against several politicians.”

In the list submitted by Napoles to the DOJ in May 2014 for her bid for immunity from criminal suits in the PDAF scam, Napoles tagged nine senators in the PDAF scam: Ramon Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, Vicente Sotto III, Loren Legarda, Aquilino Pimentel III, Alan Peter Cayetano, Gringo Honasan and Francis Escudero.

However, the Ombudsman office only charged Revilla, Estrada and Enrille with plunder before the Sandiganbayan.

Former senator Manny Villar was also in the list where Napoles affixed her signature and two thumb marks.

Also in the list were Liberal Party members: former budget secretary and Batanes representative Florencio Abad and former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority head and now Sen. Joel Villanueva. No charges were filed against them.

The list included the names of 69 incumbent and former congressmen as well as those of alleged conduits for the implementing agencies like the Department of Agriculture, Department Agrarian Reform, National Livelihood Development Corp., Technology Resource Center and National Agribusiness Corp.