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JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra admitted Tuesday that he would need all the government machinery to carry out President Duterte’s directive to lead the government’s bid to end massive bribery and corruption activities in the government.
In a text message to journalists, Guevarra admitted that being chosen to lead the government’s expanded anti-corruption task force is the most difficult task he has received from the president.
The president has vowed to spend the remainder of his remaining years in office addressing the ongoing corruption activities in various government agencies.
Guevarra was appointed by the president to lead the PhilHealth task force that recently investigated the multi-billion dollar corruption activities at the state health insurance company.
The Task Force PhilHealth investigation resulted in the presentation of
violation of the Corrupt Practices and Anti-Bribery Law before the Ombudsman’s Office against seven high-ranking officials of the agency.
“Aside from my usual responsibilities as Attorney General, this new assignment is the most difficult I have received from the President. I will need the full support and cooperation of the entire government machinery to achieve this singular goal of substantially reducing corruption in government, ”he said.
In line with this, Guevarra said he plans to create multiple “strike force” units to simultaneously investigate the activities of corruption-prone agencies.
The idea of the interagency task force is not to investigate an alleged corrupt agency one at a time, but to investigate the activities of several corrupt agencies at the same time. “Tentatively, I am thinking of creating several strike forces that will simultaneously attack several corruption-prone agencies,” Guevarra said.
The first order of business, he said, is to organize and determine the composition of the core task force and come up with an overall strategy on how to implement his new role as a government corruption investigator.
“Considering the breadth of this anti-corruption campaign, I will immediately focus on the organizational structure and the mechanism that the president’s directive will carry out until the end of his term, as well as the order of priorities,” he emphasized.
“It will help us a lot if the government workers themselves and the people they deal with will come forward and provide us with the necessary information to uncover corrupt activities and identify the perpetrators,” added the Secretary of Justice.
Alleged corruption in Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) projects headed by Secretary Mark Villar is likely to be investigated.
DOJ Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar, Secretary Villar’s wife, has said that she would inhibit participating in any investigation involving DPWH, although she has not received instructions from DOJ Secretary Guevarra to join any investigation into the agency.
“I have also not been involved in any organized team to investigate corruption in the past like PhilHealth. The matters generally assigned to me are contract review and other matters assigned to the legal staff. But even in the cases of contract review, I will not participate if there is any conflict, “he explained.
Risa supports Guevarra
Meanwhile, opposition senator Risa Hontiveros backed Guevarra saying: “I firmly believe that [Guevarra] is up to the task. “
Citing ongoing Senate hearings on the Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality Commission’s program, the senator hopes to work with Guevarra on drafting reform legislation to address the problem.
He added that “we need a collaborative effort to stop the anomalous practices that tend to weaken the institutions of our country.”
In a statement, Hontiveros acknowledged that Secretary Guevarra and his office have been “very cooperative in our investigation into illegal practices at the Immigration Office in relation to the notorious pill scheme.”
As an independent body, “our committee in the Senate will continue to investigate illegal activities at the gates of entry and exit of our country, which have eventually led to the abuse of women and children,” he said.
With Butch Fernandez
