By Benjamin Pulta
MANILA – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Wednesday said it will leave no stone unturned in investigating the allegations of the 18 former Marines that they delivered cash to public officials and personalities in connection with the anomalous flood control projects.
In a media interview, NBI Director Melvyn Matibag said his office will consider all possible leads behind the former Marines’ claims that they know the details of billions of pesos delivered to the government officials.
“We all know that the Office of the Ombudsman, under its mandate, has the power to deputize any agency in line with its mandate. So, NBI has already been deputized by the OMB to investigate the incident, yung sa 18 Marines, yung kanilang (the 18 Marines, their) joint affidavit and all the allegations there,” Matibag said.
“We will investigate all the angles, lahat titingnan namin. Sabi ko nga, let’s be clear yung process ng investigation, alam natin lahat, saan natin sisimulan dun sa nagrereklamo, dun sa nagsalita (We will look at everything. As I said, let’s be clear about the investigation process, we all know where we start, with the complainant, with the one who spoke up),” she added.
Matibag said they have started looking into the claims that the men are members of the Philippine Marine Corps.
“We looked at the personality, we looked at the veracity of their statements, and if the evidence will lead towards their allegations on the mentioned names, we will call upon them,” he said.
He said it is crucial to investigate the identity of the personalities.
“Kasi (Because) there is once a report that some of them are not really members of the Marine Corps, which turns out to be upon verifications, totoo pala (is indeed true),” he said.
Matibag added that some of the men have pending criminal cases.
“The directive, saan tayo dadalhin ng ebidensya, dun tayo pupunta (The directive, where the evidence takes us, that’s where we’ll go),” the NBI chief said. (PNA)
