Palace: Report to President to determine fate of ICI
The fate of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) will depend on the report to be submitted by the body to President Marcos, officials said on Tuesday.
But should the ICI be dissolved, Malacañang said the Marcos administration’s promise to exact accountability from individuals involved in the flood control scandal would still be carried out by the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“The President will still wait for the records and the report of the ICI. It is only then that the President will likely make a decision regarding the ICI,” Palace press officer Claire Castro said in a briefing.
The ICI, however, did not give a timetable on when it would deliver on this commitment.
Citing previous statements of resigned ICI commissioners Rogelio “Babes” Singson and Rossana Fajardo, Castro noted that their tasks were already completed.
Ombudsman, DOJ dependable
“So what is needed now is simply to consolidate and gather the evidence that has been collected, as well as the testimonies of the people they invited,” she said, adding that all resource persons had cooperated except for Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte and the late former Public Works Undersecretary Ma. Catalina Cabral.
Despite the ICI’S pronouncements that lack of quorum has impeded its investigation, the fact-finding body could still pursue its mandate even if only its chair, retired Supreme Court associate justice Andres Reyes, is the only one left out of the three appointed to the body, Castro maintained.
“And even if we say that the ICI is nearing the end of its term, if it has indeed already completed its work, the Office of the Ombudsman and the DOJ are there,” she said. “They are also diligent in investigating corruption. So it cannot be said that the people have lost hope when it comes to probing these kinds of anomalies.”
Tingog Rep. Jude Acidre and La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V agreed with Castro, saying that exacting accountability for any wrongdoing would rest with these bodies once the ICI is dissolved.
“At this point, it is important to let the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice do their constitutional and legal work,” Acidre said.
Ortega echoed Acidre, saying: “These are the institutions with the authority and mandate to act based on evidence.”
Mr. Marcos established the ICI in September at the height of public clamor to prosecute players in the multibillion-peso flood control scandal. Because it is only a fact-finding body, its powers has been limited to recommending charges against lawmakers and public works officials who allegedly colluded with private contractors to siphon billions of pesos off public works projects.
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