LINGAYEN–Agents of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PACC) are in Pangasinan to investigate cases of corruption involving local and national government officials, unsolved murder cases, illegal drugs, among others.

This was disclosed by PACC Chairman Dante Jimenez who has mobilized different government agencies, including the Philippine National Police to help them probe these cases and pin down and prosecute the suspects.

Among these cases was the reclamation of a large part of the sea by certain officials without prior permit from the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Earlier, Jimenez announced in a press conference in Lingayen that the PACC is conducting lifestyle checks on 46 incumbent and former officials who were in the narco list earlier made public by President Rodrigo Duterte.

One of the 46 is Pangasinan First District Rep. Jesus Celeste.

The lifestyle check is being conducted by PACC with the help of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLAC).   

On the unsolved murder cases, Jimenez called on P/Col. Wilson Lopez, police provincial director, to talk personally with relatives of the victims who are still crying for justice over unsolved gruesome deaths of their kin.

Jimenez likewise mobilized the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional office to investigate the reclamation of a large part of the sea as the expansion site of a beach resort sans any permit from PRA and DENR.

At the same time, PACC directed the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to investigate and inquire why more qualified senior citizens from the ranks of the poorest of the poor were discriminated in the award of social benefits from the government through the manipulation of unnamed officials in one town.

Jimenez earlier explained that the lifestyle checks on officials and former officials will determine if they have hidden wealth and their current assets correspond to their income as public officials as gleaned from their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth on file.

He likewise warned district engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways against collusion with corrupt local officials. (Leonardo Micua) 

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