Poll fever seen in legal raps

The TFAC is quietly conducting its investigations. We will give an update from time to time

Political complaints filed with local courts are expected to increase in the runup to the 2022 elections, according to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.

Earlier, Guevarra said the Department of Justice (DoJ)-led Task Force Against Corruption (TFAC) has received more than a hundred complaints mostly regarding public works.

“The TFAC is quietly conducting its investigations. We will give an update from time to time,” Guevarra said over the weekend.

He said there is not enough complaints received by the task force this month to match those filed in the previous two months.

“But we expect the number to rise as we draw closer to the next elections. There may be a rash of politically-motivated complaints alleging corruption by contending elective officials as elections draw near,” Guevarra said.

Based on evidence

The justice chief said they will still evaluate the complaints on the basis of evidence to support the allegations.

“We will have to evaluate each complaint on the basis of adequate evidence submitted to support general allegations,” Guevarra said.

In the first two weeks of January 2021 the task force ordered by President Duterte to look into corruption in government has so far received 144 complaints, most of which involved public projects.

The task force against corruption will also take over the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigations of irregularities involving some lawmakers.

Guevarra, who heads the task force, said DoJ had evaluated 60 of the 144 complaints filed as of

11 January.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PNA ASTRONOMICAL prices of pork in wet markets alarmed Senator Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ Go enough for him to ask the government to intervene.