The Palace said on Thursday that the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) probe into alleged irregularities in the funding of the New Clark City sports complex in Tarlac was not meant to intimidate anyone.
During a press briefing at the Malacañang, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro added that an innocent person would not be intimidated by NBI Director Atty. Melvin Matibag’s announcement.
“Ang tao na wala naman na dapat katakutan ay hindi nai-intimidate kahit kailan. Ang pag-iimbestiga na gagawin, dahil mayroon naman talagang isyu noon pang 2019, hindi ito pangi-intimidate, hindi ito panggigipit sa mga taong wala namang ginawang mali,” she said before the media, arguing that decrying such investigations may lead people to suspect them of guilt.
Castro explained that Matibag’s response to the tip about the sports complex, wherein the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games were held, was only apt as chief of the bureau.
“Bilang isang namumuno sa NBI, kapag may nadinig na ganoon, ano ba ang dapat gawin? Isawalang-bahala? Tulugan? Ignore? O imbestigahan? Hindi po ba dapat na imbestigahan—hindi dahil gusto niyang manira, o maka-diskaril ng isang tao?” she reasoned.
“Ang mandato naman po ng pamunuan ng NBI na mag-imbestiga kung mayro’n po silang naririnig, nalaman na anomalya. Hindi po kailangang utusan ng Pangulo. Mandato po iyan ng NBI, ng CIDG, ng PNP, trabaho po nila ‘yan,” she stated earlier.
The Palace official also said that Matibag had launched an investigation into the issue because the bureau was set to have an academy built in the same city. During a meeting, he was tipped off about the purported corruption behind the construction of the sports complex.
Moreover, she made it clear that this meeting was held on June 15, a month ago, opposing the notion that the investigation was an intimidation tactic deployed to derail Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano.
In response to Cayetano’s rebuttal regarding the supposed involvement of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) chairman, a close adviser to the President—which may be referring to now-Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Vince Dizon—Castro said that Dizon had already been investigated and found innocent.
It is Senator Cayetano who had not been probed, despite being Speaker of the House during that time.
In a Tuesday interview, Matibag said he had received information that ₱10 billion in the sports complex funding had not been liquidated. No bidding had taken place, the bureau director claimed, and yet it was promptly paid for through congressional insertion in the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Sitting as senator-judges during the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte, Senators Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano, as well as Senator Robin Padilla slammed the probe.
Senator Pia Cayetano came to her brother’s defense, asserting that the NBI was attempting to distract senator-judges from exercising their mandate.
In 2019, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano chaired the Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC), according to online reports.
