Palace to leave it to ICI to probe Cabinet execs
Malacañang on Thursday said there was no need to conduct an internal investigation of all Cabinet members over their possible involvement in anomalous flood control projects, adding that the matter will be left to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
“For now, nothing has been communicated to us regarding any internal investigation because, as we said, any issues concerning flood control projects and infrastructure are already handled by the ICI,” Palace press officer Claire Castro told reporters.
According to her, what President Marcos can do is assess the performance of each Cabinet member, which is the usual practice.
“But when it comes to anomalous flood control projects, nothing has been mentioned or reported, so it doesn’t seem necessary to conduct an investigation on this,” Castro said.
No escape
At the same time, she also assured the public that resigned Cabinet members would not escape investigation and, if warranted, prosecution, as the ICI, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice will go after them.
The question was raised following the recent shakeup in top appointees of President Marcos, with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman leaving the Cabinet after former Ako Bicol Rep. Zaldy Co linked them to “insertions” in the 2025 national budget.
The nature of Bersamin’s exit, however, remains unclear after he refuted Castro’s statement that he resigned out of “delicadeza” amid the ongoing probe into anomalous government infrastructure projects.
According to Bersamin, he did not resign voluntarily and was only informed via a phone call that he needed to step down.
Castro, at Thursday’s briefing, stood by her previous statement regarding his resignation.
Aside from Bersamin and Pangandaman, the Department of Education also recently confirmed the resignation of Undersecretary Trygve Olaivar, who allegedly received kickbacks from billions of pesos in flood control projects.
