Members of independent body to probe flood control projects to be named soon —Marcos

The Philippine government is set to release in the coming days membership details of the independent body that will oversee the investigation into anomalous flood control projects that have been riddled with corruption allegations, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said over the weekend.

According to Marcos, the independent body will be completely separate from the government, and will be comprised of a lawyer or a justice, an investigator, and a forensic accountant who will be working with all government agencies—primarily with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the investigation aspect, and the Commission on Audit (COA) for information.

“Wala pang formal name, pero ‘yun ang binubuo namin, independent commission para imbestigahan ito ngang mga lumalabas na anomalya sa mga flood control project. ‘Yung mga personalities, ayaw ko namang maunahan ang actual na announcement dahil hindi pa solid talaga, pero malapit na,” he said in an exclusive interview with Vicky Morales aired on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.

(There’s no formal name yet, but that’s what we are forming—an independent commission to investigate the anomalies that are coming out in the flood control projects. For the personalities, I do not want to preempt the actual announcement since nothing is solid yet, but it is coming soon.)

“We will give them all the powers that are necessary for them to come to a conclusion, to come to some findings, para meron naman, alam natin kung ano ang nangyari,” he added.

The independent commission will have a recommendatory role, and is expected to submit its findings to the Department of Justice (DOJ) or to the Office of the Ombudsman for the proper filing of cases.

“They will have the authority to investigate anything and anyone. Otherwise, then what, then sasabihin may sacred cow na naman, may pinoproteksyonan dahil kasama sa politika, whatever. ‘Pagka nangyari ‘yun, wala ring kabuluhan ang kanilang imbestigasyon,” Marcos said.

(They will have the authority to investigate anything and anyone. Otherwise, then what, then they will say that there is another sacred cow, that there are some being protected because of politics, whatever. If that happens, then the investigation will be meaningless.)

In the same interview, Marcos said the independent body will cover everyone, including his relatives and political allies.

“I said we’re making an omelet. We’re going to have to break some eggs. There’s just no way around it,” he said.

“Who is more important—your friend, your political supporter, or every single ordinary Filipino citizen? Who is more important? To me, it’s the Filipino citizen. Nobody is more important than Filipinos. Nobody, nobody, not one person is more important,” he added.

The corruption issues, Marcos said, have been a result of years of neglect and systemic issues, and findings of the independent commission will help in putting safeguards in place to prevent a repeat in the future.

“The simplistic answer will be: Paano tayo nagkaganito? Dahil pinabayaan. [How did we come to this? Because it was neglected.] And what can we do? What we can do is to find out how this happened, who were the people that were involved, make them answerable for their wrongdoing, and fix the structure so this is not allowable. That’s the word that I think… It became allowable—okay lang, hindi problema ‘yan, hindi krimen ‘yan, sige lang [like it was okay, not a problem, not a crime, just let it be],” he said.

Just last week Marcos ordered a sweeping review of the proposed budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) under the National Expenditure Program (NEP), with the agency tasked to implement the flood control projects.

To recall, Marcos in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July warned government personnel who steal public funds—such as those for flood control projects—to have some shame.

He also earlier launched a website on flood control, and urged citizens to report any wrongdoings through the platform, as he found that only 15 firms have cornered 20% of contracts across the country.

Since the launch, Marcos said the website has received over 12,000 reports, which also involve other infrastructure projects such as road paving and road widening, among others.

“We started talking about flood control pero siyempre, nagkaroon ang tao ng line of communication sa akin na para makapagreklamo sila, ginagamit talaga nila. That has been very effective, that’s why I encourage everybody. Lahat ng ano, hinihikayat ko kayong lahat. ‘Pagka meron kayong reklamo, ireklamo niyo,” he said.

(We started talking about flood control but of course, people have found a line of communication with me so they can complain, and they are really using it. That has been very effective, that’s why I can encourage everybody. I urge all of you—if you have a complaint, raise it.) — BM, GMA Integrated News