ACE MORANDANTE/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
Malacañang on Tuesday said there was nothing malicious with President Rodrigo Duterte naming nine lawmakers allegedly involved in corruption in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
In an address on Monday night, Duterte read a list of House members whose names came up on a Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) investigation.
“I just want to assure everybody that ‘yung pagbasa sa pangalan ninyo is not a condemnation or an indictment that you are guilty of something. In the same manner that I would tell the people that do not take it as a gospel truth na totoo talaga ‘to,” Duterte said before reading the list of names.
Duterte’s spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte’s forewarning made it clear that “there was nothing unfair, there was nothing malicious” with the president disclosing the names publicly
“Inulit-ulit po ni presidente, hindi pa naman po sila proven guilty at hindi po namili ang presidente. Kung ano lang iyong ini-report sa kaniya ng PACC, iyon lang po ang isinapubliko ng ating presidente,” he said in a Palace briefing.
Roque asserted that it was not a trial by publicity.
“It is not a trial by publicity… hindi naman sinasabing nagkasala na, pero mayroong imbestigasyon na ongoing dito sa mga ito… pero sinabi na nga ni presidente, freedom of information, it was officially received by his office then he can reveal it to the public,” he said.
The following were the lawmakers named by Duterte:
Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato
Former Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr.
Quezon City 5th District Rep. Alfred Vargas
Misamis Occidental Rep. Henry Oaminal
Isabela Fourth District Rep. Alyssa Sheena Tan
Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza
Quezon province Rep. Angelina ‘Helen’ Tan
ACT-CIS Party List Rep. Eric Yap
Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman
In October, Duterte ordered a task force probing government-wide irregularities to focus on alleged corruption within DPWH. John Ezekiel J. Hirro