THE Department of Justice has received voluminous documents as evidence of alleged corruption during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II revealed he received the documents from Pastor “Boy” Saycon, a political strategist and head of Council on Philippine Affairs.
Aguirre admitted he had yet to sift through the voluminous papers but revealed they included purportedly anomalies involving gambling operations and misdeclared contributions of some candidates in last year’s elections.
“These are [pieces of] evidence of corruption… I have yet to study all the documents. I haven’t read everything yet,” Aguirre said in an interview.
In related developments:
•The receipt of documents by the Department of Justice followed President Rodrigo Duterte’s “private and lively” dinner with some senators Tuesday, according to Malacañang.
“Aside from dinner, the President and the senators exchanged views on vital legislative agenda currently pending in the Senate,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said, adding “In all, it was a productive evening.”
Abella said: “Among the pending bills they discussed were the proposed emergency powers to solve the traffic problem in Metro Manila and the proposed comprehensive tax reform package, which seeks to realign the revenue collection of the government, boost the available income of the taxpayers, while guaranteeing the healthy operation of the government and the country’s inclusive development programs.”
“They likewise talked about the President’s war on drugs and the Senate concurrence to the Philippines’ accession to the Paris Agreement.”
At the same time, amid persistent rumors of destabilization or ouster plot against Duterte, no loyalty check was conducted during the 15 senators’ “simple fellowship dinner” with the Chief Executive.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the dinner among the President and his Senate was far fetched from beng a loyalty check. “I don’t think so,” he said.
He stressed it was the first time for some of the senators to meet the President in an intimate gathering since he took office.
According to Aguirre, the documents indicated the involvement of “high officials” in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.
When asked about the credibility of the documents, Aguirre indicated they were original public documents involving “many forms of corruption” and “many people.”
“These are credible documents — to the highest degree,” he said.
Aguirre said the credibility of Saycon should not be an issue as he was only the “bearer and messenger” of the evidence.
Senators who were present during the dinner at the Malago Clubhouse inside the PSG compound were Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, and Senators JV Ejercito, Manny Pacquiao, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar, Alan Peter Cayetano, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Nancy Binay, Loren Legarda, Ralph Recto, and Sonny Angara.
Absent from the dinner were Senators Panfilo Lacson, Francis Escudero and Gringo Honasan, as well as members of the minority bloc composed of Senators Franklin Drilon, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Francis Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros, and Antonio Trillanes.
Sen. Leila de Lima, also a part of the minority group, is currently detained over drug-related charges.
“It was just a fellowship dinner, socials, nothing official, we didn’t talk about anything official… probably because most of them have have not broken bread with the President, not even once since July 2016,” Soto said.
“I don’t really know who initiated the dinner… It could have been from the Palace itself or one of the Senators who mentioned it to my secretary. It was my secretary who told me about that,” he said.
Sen. Loren Legarda said it was not a “hardsell…very light.”
She said the dinner lasted for about one and a half hours.
She said they talked about tax reform measure and, a little on federalism, one of the President’s priority agenda.
Sotto said the issue of federalism was mentioned merely in passing.
“We didn’t even talk about anything official,” said Sotto.
He said the President also never mentioned to them the procceedings of the Commission on Appointments.
Sotto and Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito described as light the mood during the entire dinner with the President.
Ejercito said the President did not even ask them about the ongoing investigations in the Senate. “Nothing crucial was discussed, not questions on the investigations , even in passing,” said Ejercito.
He said the President did not make any request, nor did he push or endorse.
But Eejrcito said they tackled with the President the proposed tax reform measure and the return of the war on drugs.
He said Duterte showed them a “cleaner” list of local officials involved in illegal drugs, which included barangay officials and other local executives.
When questioned if Duterte mentioned anything about de Lima, Ejercito said that Duterte did talk about her, but just told them the government’s drug charges against her were based on reports from “international intelligence.”
“He (Duterte) was just justifying, he was also saying the reasons why “Oplan Tokhang” or the “Oplan Double Barrel” had to resume…” Ejercito said.