Local gov’ts urged to initiate own corruption probes
BAGUIO CITY—Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Thursday urged all local governments, civil society organizations and even churches to undertake their own anticorruption investigations as the already overwhelmed and understaffed Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) will not be able to scrutinize every anomaly which had ballooned now to over 400 public works projects.
Magalong, a former ICI adviser, told reporters here that he had discussed this proposal with fellow local governments in light of the probe body’s uncertain fate, with two of its three members already resigned.
Former Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and Rossana Fajardo, managing partner of accounting firm SGV & Co., resigned last year, leaving its chair, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr, as the only commissioner.
Magalong, a retired police officer, was appointed as special adviser and was also serving as an investigator until he resigned in September last year. He was replaced by another retired officer, Rodolfo Azurin, a former chief of the Philippine National Police.
Magalong revealed that a team from the city government has coordinated with the Baguio police and the Criminal Investigation Detection Group to review government projects here and is scheduled on Thursday afternoon to file a complaint against government engineers over an allegedly anomalous street lighting project.
He said these investigations were local initiatives “because ICI can no longer handle all alleged infrastructure anomalies.”
Active involvement
“Our call these days is that everyone should be actively involved,” Magalong stressed.
He pointed out that other suspected anomalous projects still needed thorough investigations, particularly in the Cordillera. Some contractors who got multimillion-peso contracts and flagged by President Marcos in his State of the Nation Address operate in the region.
“I hope the ICI staff have gotten paid,” Magalong added, saying the commission began as volunteer work and an operational fund was released only late last year. “We were doing administrative work, while pursuing investigative work.”
Asked if he got paid as a special ICI adviser, the mayor said: “No, and my expenses have not yet been reimbursed.”
Earlier, Magalong said members of the movement Mayors for Good Governance (M4GG) were actively involved in monitoring the 2026 budget process. The group, which Magalong helped form, sat with Education Secretary Sonny Angara and his staff for a briefing on the school building plan in the 2026 General Appropriations Act. This year’s spending plan has grown to P6.793 trillion from P6.326-trillion in 2025 GAA.
“What I fear most is that money would again flow out to the communities in preparation for the next elections so incumbent officials who benefited from kickbacks will get reelected,” he said.
He also urged the public to beware of “dirty money” that might flood the countryside to quell national outrage over corruption.
All the energies and collective disappointment expressed in street protests must be sustained and remembered until the next elections in 2028, he told the Inquirer, hoping “these protests must shape voting behavior.”
