THE Supreme Court has affirmed the recommendation of the Department of Justice and National Bureau of Investigation to indict House deputy speaker Rufus Rodriguez before the Office of the Ombudsman in relation to his alleged receipt of P2 million in kickbacks from his priority development assistant fund (PDAF).
The SC’s Second Division said it found no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the DOJ and NBI when they recommended the conduct of an investigation and the eventual filing of charges before the Sandiganbayan against Rodriguez.
The 15-page SC resolution was made public on October 29.
The NBI recommendation against Rodriguez was approved by then Justice Sec. Leila de Lima.
In its executive summary dated August 7, 2015, the NBI said that Rodriguez, together with several other lawmakers used his PDAF in illegal transaction with Janet Lim-Napoles’ non-government organizations to profit from simulated disbursements and utilization of his PDAF.
The NBI said Napoles’ NGOs were non-existent and were used merely as conduits for the alleged implementation and liquidation of projects financed by the PDAF, adding that bulk of the funds was pocketed by solons, their representatives, and officials of the implementing agencies.
Napoles is still detention after she was convicted of plunder related to the multi-million PDAF. She has been tagged as the mastermind of the PDAF scam.
The NBI said there are enough evidence to charge Rodriguez with malversation of public funds, direct bribery, and violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
Rodriguez, for his part, argued that the respondent agencies acted in excess of their jurisdiction in conducting a formal investigation against him in connection with the Napoles PDAF scam. He said his right to due process and equal protection of the law was violated when the NBI conducted an investigation and eventually recommended his indictment without giving him the chance to be heard.
As a result, Rodriguez said he was not able to present evidence to prove his innocence.
The court, however, said that the NBI’s investigation and subsequent issuance of the executive summary and letter-complaints against Rodriguez were done merely in the performance of its mandate.
