MANILA – Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives are included in Department of Justice’s (DOJ) “mega task force” against corruption investigation, according to Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.
During his virtual press conference, Roque said the members of both houses of Congress will also be probed despite the separation of powers among the executive and legislative.
“Alam niyo po ang mandato po ng DOJ, sang-ayon sa batas na nabuo ng National Prosecutors Office is to investigate everyone. Pero meron din po tayong mga immunities na ine-enjoy ng ating mga elected members of Congress and the Senate pero it is not for violating anti-graft laws,” Roque said.
“So kasama po ang lahat ng mga public officers despite the separation of powers dahil wala naman pong seperate na ahensya na nag-iinvestigate ng korapsyon sa Kongreso mismo. ‘Yan po ay kapangyarihan mismo ng ehekutibo, to implement all laws kahit sino pa man sila,” he added.
During his public address on Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the DOJ to lead a multi-agency task force to conduct a sweeping, government-wide investigation on corruption.
Meanwhile, Justice secretary Menardo Guevarra hopes to bring out some results in the next couple of months as he already discussed the new directive with the task force last Tuesday.
“We are hoping in the next couple of months we’ll be able to produce something as a sign that the task force is actually doing its job,” Guevarra said in an interview with DZBB on Wednesday.
According to Guevarra, the task force will include constitutional bodies and commissions that are already part of the task force that probed alleged anomalies in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).
He identified them as the NBI, Office of Special Assistant to the President, National Prosecution Service, Anti-Red Tape Authority, Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission, Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, and Anti-Money Laundering Council./PN
