TALKS are underway between the Task Force Against Corruption and Office of the Ombudsman in deputizing senior graft probers for deployment in government agencies prone to corruption.
“The DoJ is exploring with the office of the Ombudsman the matter of deputizing OMB senior investigating officers in selected government agencies to be identified by the DoJ,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, head of the Task Force Against Corruption, said over the weekend.
“The DoJ is giving attention to these organizational and institutional arrangements so that actual investigation and prosecution may proceed smoothly and systematically in the months to come,” he continued.
Guevarra also urged other government agencies to set up their own internal corruption sections where the Task Force Against Corruption could coordinate during formal investigation.
“The e DoJ has written to other gov’t agencies requesting them to create internal anti-corruption mechanisms with which the task force may directly coordinate,” Guevarra said.
President Duterte recently directed the DoJ to investigate corruption in the entire government.
“I hope that all government workers, officials are listening. This is a memorandum from me to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra. The subject is investigating corruption allegations in the entire government,” he said in a taped speech.
“I will concentrate the last remaining years of my term fighting corruption kasi hanggang ngayon, hindi humihina, lumalakas pa lalo. Para na tuloy naging inutil ang mga opisyal ng bayan, na wala talagang magawa with the onslaught of corruption,” the President vowed.
As of this writing, the Task Force Against Corruption has already received a total of 60 complaints against erring officials and employees in the government.
Justice Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar revealed this development in a message to reporters last Thursday.
Aglipay-Villar, the concurrent Justice Department spokesperson, also admitted that there were complaints filed involving Department of Public Works and Highways construction projects outside of Metro Manila.
“The Operations Center Secretariat is still in the process of consolidating the complaints they received and those received by DoJAC (Department of Justice Action Center) as there has been a sudden surge in complaints this week. Estimated number is more than 60 already.“
