The number of cases being resolved by the National Prosecution Service (NPS) of the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not take a dive despite the additional task of investigating corruption in government, assured Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday, Nov. 5.
“So far we have enough state counsels and state prosecutors to handle all these extra tasks assigned to the DOJ,” said Guevarra.
“We’ll add a corps of young lawyers who will get their appointments as prosecution attorneys very soon,” he added.
If there is need, Guevarra said “we’ll draw from the legal complement of agencies attached to the DOJ, other than the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation).”
“Up to this point, the disposition rate of the NPS has remained high,” he boasted.
President Duterte had earlier issued a memorandum dated Oct. 27 to Guevarra to have the DOJ lead a task force to investigate the entire government for corrupt activities.
Aside from the DOJ, NPS and NBI, the task force consists of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP), the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), the DOJ’s Office of Cybercrime (OOC), and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
Meanwhile, Guevarra formally baptized the DOJ-led task force as the Task Force Against Corruption.
“We have noted that the media has been referring to the DOJ-led task force as the ‘mega task force’ and we really appreciate the importance that the media has given to this inter-agency group,” he said.
“However, we’ll be happy to be referred to simply as the Task Force Against Corruption,” Guevarra declared.
The secretary explained “we do not want a name that is full of bluster, as we intend to work quietly but effectively.”