NBI chief rejects Noy appeal to stay on

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino failed to persuade National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Nonnatus Caesar Rojas to reconsider his irrevocable resignation amid allegations of wrongdoing hurled against officials of the agency.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Rojas believed resigning was “the most honorable thing to do” and that he wanted “to keep his honor and integrity intact.”

Rojas cited Aquino’s loss of confidence as reason for quitting.

With this, De Lima said she would assume supervision of the NBI as officer-in-charge as the Palace is expected to announce the President’s acceptance of the resignation today.

“The President talked to him (Rojas) the other day, and he has not changed his mind. His resignation is irrevocable,” she told reporters in an ambush interview.

But as to the official decision of the President, De Lima said the announcement would come from the Palace.

“If I’m unable to immediately designate an OIC, I will be forced to assume direct supervision in the meantime while looking for OIC within the NBI or DOJ. OIC should not be outside the DOJ family,” she revealed.

De Lima will directly supervise the NBI at a time when the bureau is preparing charges against businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and several lawmakers involved in the pork barrel fund scam.

As for the courtesy resignation of Deputy Director for Administrative Services Edmundo Arugay, the DOJ chief said she has not forwarded it yet to the President as she reiterated her plea to other deputy directors to follow suit and also file their courtesy resignations amid persistent charges of illegal activities against three or four of them.

De Lima, however, admitted that the controversy hounding the leadership of the NBI has affected the operations of the bureau.

Among the results, she stressed, is the “slight delay” in the filing of charges against Napoles and others in connection with the pork barrel fund scam.

The DOJ chief confirmed earlier that the NBI fact-finding team has gathered ample evidence to file plunder charges.

But De Lima revealed yesterday that there could be other charges to be filed against the probable respondents led by Napoles.

“That’s what we’re studying right now since we are targeting plunder. But there are elements needed to be met, so if plunder would not apply to everyone there could be other charges against them,” she explained.

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal had said lawmakers found guilty of allocating pork barrel funds to fake non-government organizations could still be charged even if they were not proven to be part of the scam allegedly perpetrated by Napoles.

The lawyer said they could be charged with the crime of malversation of public funds through abandonment or negligence under Article 217 of the Revised Penal Code

Macalintal said malversation of P22,000 in public funds is considered a non-bailable offense punishable by life imprisonment. He said lawmakers could go to jail while the case is ongoing unless granted bail by a court if the evidence of guilt is not strong.

Malacañang is solidly behind De Lima on her pronouncements that high-ranking officials of the NBI have questionable integrity, particularly on the investigation of the pork barrel fund scam.

“Secretary de Lima has her reasons for stating what she stated a few days ago and let’s leave it at that,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

He issued the statement following the mass action taken by employees and officials of the NBI Wednesday evening, denouncing what they said was an affront to the agency’s credibility, not to mention the demoralization it is now experiencing among its ranks.

“To speak of it (NBI) as an institution, the answer to that (being unfairly tainted) is always that any accusation of irregularity can always be assuaged with the balm of clean conscience,” Lacierda told Palace reporters.

“It was very clear that the President mentioned in his interview that there are – and this is an observation shared also by Secretary Leila de Lima – people in NBI who are less than trustworthy,” he explained.

Aquino revealed that certain NBI officials had tipped off Napoles about the warrant of arrest issued against her, which prompted her to hide to evade arresting authorities.

NBI needs more funds

With only P1.6-million in intelligence funds a month in their budget, an official of the NBI lamented yesterday that the lack of funds is just one of the obstacles that the agency has to face in going after high-profile suspects like Napoles, NBI assistant director Medardo Delemos told the Senate sub-committee C chaired by Sen. Loren Legarda during the public hearing on the budget of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV had asked the NBI about their intelligence funds. Delemos revealed that the agency is getting P18 million in intelligence funds for next year out of the NBI’s total budget of P939.2 million for 2014.

“For the last five years, the NBI’s intelligence fund is P18 million per year. It was not increased. We know in law enforcement that intelligence funds play a role, especially in the conduct of operations,” Delemos said.

According to Delemos, the agency has been asking for an increase of the intel fund to P78 million.

He said the NBI recently conducted nationwide manhunt operations against Napoles that required funds.

Delemos, however, said that the lack of funds is not an excuse for the NBI not to do their job.

Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan led the DOJ panel in defending the P10-billion budget for the department and nine of its attached agencies, including the NBI, with the absence of De Lima.

In a letter forwarded to Legarda, De Lima said she had to attend the urgent meeting of the Cabinet Security Cluster in Malacañang.

Legarda chairs the sub-committee C of the Senate committee on finance which heard the budgets yesterday of the DOJ and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

The DOJ officials cited the need to hire more prosecutors to speed up the resolution of cases.

Legarda has endorsed the plenary approval of the P3.356-billion budget of the department.

The attached agencies include the Bureau of Corrections with a budget of P1.885 billion, Bureau of Immigration with P601 million, Land Registration Agency P888 million, NBI with P939.2 million, Office of Government Corporate Counsel with P89.5 million, Office of Solicitor General with P488.8 million, Parole and Probation Administration with P516.5 million, Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) with P102.1 million, and Public Attorney’s Office with P182-million.  With Delon Porcalla, Christina Mendez