Member-agencies in the Task Force Against Corruption (TFAC) won’t be excluded from investigation, assured Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra Friday.
(TOTO LOZANO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
“The member-agencies of the Task Force Against Corruption are included in the scope of the investigation and will be subjected to the same, if not stricter, standards and procedures as those adopted or to be adopted by the task force for the investigation of other government agencies,” he said.
“We are very much aware that the credibility of the task force hinges to a great extent on the ability of the member-agencies to clean their own respective backyards,” the Justice Secretary added.
The TFAC is lead by the DoJ and includes as members the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Office of the Special Assistant to the President (OSAP), the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), the National Prosecution Service (NPS), the DoJ Office of Cybercrime (OOC), and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
“The task force member-agencies have agreed to give top priority to this anti-corruption crusade until the end of the President’s term, and hopefully beyond,” Guevarra said.
Guevarra had earlier said that the TFAC will initially investigate five government agencies – the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Bureau of Customs (BoC), the Land Registration Authority (LRA), and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHeath).
The Justice Secretary said the TFAC has already received a number of complaints and reports about corruption. “But one thing is sure, the complaints involve agencies other than the five initially mentioned,” he said.