Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 11) — Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said a new investigation will be conducted on the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) cases .
“We’ll be making an honest to goodness effort to reopen itong PDAF and even DAP cases,” Aguirre said at a media briefing on Thursday.
Aguirre also took a swipe at the previous administration, as only three lawmakers involved in the pork barrel scam were arrested.
“Tuloy-tuloy po tayo, that there will be no selective justice katulad ng nakaraan, out of several hundreds responsible individuals, public officials, tatlo lamang ang talagang nakasuhan,” he said.
[Translation: We will continue. There will be no selective justice,unlike before, out of several hundreds responsible individuals, public officials, only three were charged.]
Senators Ramon Revilla Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, and Juan Ponce Enrile were charged with graft and plunder charges for allegedly channeling their pork barrel to bogus organizations.
Enrile is out on bail.
READ: Supreme Court grants Enrile’s petition to post bail; Jinggoy to wait longer
Aguirre added a new task force will be created for the probe, which was formerly headed by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Assistant Regional Director Rolando Argabioso.
“We are going to constitute another task force…pwedeng NBI-DOJ, pwedeng within the DOJ family, but masyadong maaga pa, but definitely we are going to investigate,” Aguirre said.
[Translation: We are going to constitute another task force…it could be composed of NBI-DOJ, it could be within the DOJ family, but it’s too early, but definitely we are going to investigate.]
READ: Janet Lim Napoles acquitted in serious illegal detention case
The new probe follows the acquittal of alleged pork barrel ringleader Janet Lim Napoles in her serious illegal detention case.
She is currently charged with plunder, graft, malversation, and direct bribery charges with former congressmen.
