Malacañang said Sunday that filing charges over the alleged misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund is up to the Department of Justice.
“Simula sapul, malinaw po ang batayang prinsipyo ng ating Pangulo at pamahalaan. Kinakailangang hayaan yung ebidensya na magturo kung saan patungo yung imbestigasyon,” he added.
The statement came after Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) secretary general, said said Saturday that the investigation into the so-called pork barrel scam seemed to be aimed only at members of the opposition.
Tiangco said members of the Liberal Party who were identified in a COA report released last August as having received excess “pork barrel” allocations from 2007 to 2008 have yet to face charges.
But Coloma said Sunday that the findings of the Audit commission still have to be evaluated by the Department of Justice.
“Hindi ibig sabihin na kapag may naiulat na COA findings ay dapat ay kasuhan na ang nakasangkot doon. Iba’t iba ang nilalaman ng mga COA finding reports,” he said.
Among the opposition lawmakers charged before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the pork barrel scam are Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.
Two former lawmakers—Customs chief Ruffy Biazon and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Joel Villanueva—also went beyond their P70 million pork barrel allocation, the COA report said.
He resigned from the Customs bureau in December, saying he wanted to “protect [his] family, particularly [his] young children, from the exposure to the hostile environment of a public controversy.”
He has denied involvement in the PDAF scam and has said he is ready to face the allegations against him.
For Tiangco, Malacañang’s supposed bias in choosing which lawmakers to prosecute is also evident in the NBI’s decision to focus its investigation only on the bogus NGOs identified with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.
