Palace: We are not targeting Arroyos or their allies

After the recent filing of criminal cases against the son and an ally of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Malacañang denied on Thursday that it is now targeting the members of the past administration. However, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration will be "going after people who have escaped impunity for the past several years." At a press briefing, Lacierda said the Office of the President has nothing to do with the filing of the cases as it is the duty of government agencies to gather evidence and file charges against individuals. "Hindi ito na me prinograma kami. Hindi ito personality based but based on the evidence as gathered," he said. "Hindi kami (Malacañang) involed sa pag-gather ng evidence. This was done by respective agencies." He said that in the case of Party-list Rep. Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo and his wife, it was the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that conducted the investigation. Mikey has since described the complaint against him as a case of "harassment," claiming he was not given due process by the BIR. On the other hand, Lacierda said that in so far as the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) is concerned, it was the Department of Finance that gathered the evidence. He said the process is now before the Department of Justice which will study the complaint through a preliminary investigation and evaluate whether there is probable cause to file it before the Court of Tax Appeals. Not being singled out Lacierda maintained that the Arroyos and their allies are not being singled out. "They are not being singled out. It is based on the evidence gathered by the respective appropriate agencies concerned. This is part of what we have discovered for the past eight months," he said. "We are clearing the landmines here, this is not personality driven but based on evidence as so warranted," he reiterated. He added that said that it was just a coincidence that the complaints against former LWUA head Prospero Pichay and Mikey were filed a day after the other. In the same briefing, Ricky Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, said the charges against Pichay came from the complaints lodged before by concerned individuals. "Since the beginning, there were people saying that this was going on in LWUA... So the investigation went on and there was evidence found based on some of the ‘sumbong’ and that’s why the case was filed," he said. Asked if the public could expect filing of charges against ‘bigger fish’ after Mikey, Lacierda said he cannot say for sure. "Hindi ko po masasabi kung sino ang iniimbestigahan ng BIR. We are also in the dark here. We are informed [only] during the time of the announcement," he said. "But we are going after people who have escaped impunity for the past several years. We want to make sure that those who are required to pay the proper tax should pay. This is one of the ways where we are trying to plug the leakages in tax collection," he added.

Asked if the Aquino administration is trying to send a message that no one is untouchable under the present government, Lacierda said they just wanted the public to pay the correct taxes. "We want to eradicate graft and corruption. Number two, we want to also plug the leakages in the tax administration. Where we find leakages, where we find people who fail to pay taxes and when the evidence so warrants, we will go after delinquent taxpayers or individuals who evade their tax obligations," he said. He added that the administration will continue filing charges "to make sure that our promise against corruption will continue." The charges, however, will be filed before the DOJ and not before the Office of the Ombudsman, saying the incumbent Ombudsman is not with the administration in its fight against corruption. "Yung mga kaso na we can handle before the DOJ, we are confident (that it will prosper). Again, ang concern namin, pagdating sa Ombudsman ay ‘yun nga ang balakid," he said. "We are concerned again na ang incumbent Ombudsman ay hindi po kasama natin sa laban natin sa corruption lalo na sa mga opisyales ng nakaraang administrasyon," he added. Lacierda said: “So we’re hoping that we will have a better, a new Ombudsman pagdating po sa mga kaso ng graft and corruption. We hope that once we have a new Ombudsman, we can file them." — Amita Legaspi/RSJ, GMA News