MANILA, Philippines – Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales eyes the end of 2017 to finish her office’s investigations of lawmakers and agents implicated in the pork barrel scam.

“That’s because about 240 congressmen were mentioned in the audit report, so that’s a lot. But we target to finish all our investigations by the end of next year,” Morales told reporters after the Ombudsman’s budget hearing on Thursday, August 25. 

“We decide which case should first be investigated. We do it in accordance with the amount. The higher the amount, the priority is to investigate these big amounts in the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund),” she added. 

President Rodrigo Duterte recently announced that he plans to revisit the list of public officials that Janet Lim Napoles said took advantage of their PDAF to get kickbacks. (READ: FACT CHECK: Making sense of the Napoles lists)

Months after the pork barrel controversy hit the news, the Supreme Court declared the PDAF as unconstitutional in November 2013.

Several legislators and their agents have been charged and are detained, like former senators Ramon Revilla Jr and Jinggoy Estrada, but many cases are pending. (READ: Pork Tales: A story of corruption)

On Thursday, Morales said she is not alarmed by Duterte’s plan to have a second look at the Napoles list. 

“No, we’re not worried, because what we did is what we think is in accordance with the law,” she said. – Rappler.com