Aguirre: New task force to look into pork barrel scam, DAP

(Eagle News) — Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said he would create a new task force that will look into the alleged pork barrel scam and the disbursement acceleration program.

Aguirre said it was still unclear what the composition of the task force would be.

“We are going to conduct the investigation without being influenced by anybody,” Aguirre said, noting that he believed selective justice was practised in the prosecution of certain personalities in the previous administration.

Aguirre noted that of the “hundreds” of public officials who appeared to be involved in these alleged anomalies, only three senators then–Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla–have been charged.

He said then-Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had also repeatedly announced charges would be filed against other personalities in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam, but the filing never pushed through.

“Tuloy tuloy tayo. There will be no selective justice katulad ng nakaraan,” he said.

During the press conference, Aguirre also said Napoles’ brother, Reynaldo Lim, who is sick and remains at large, was being held somewhere and was being used to blackmail her into not spilling the beans.

But the justice secretary remained optimistic she would talk if she was transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation, away from threats to her life.

As for the DAP controversy, Aguirre said Greco Belgica, who had sought the help of the Supreme Court for the pork barrel and the DAP to be declared unconstitutional, already had leads.