Malacanang: ICI received P41M budget for 2025

Amid questions about funding, Malacañang on Friday clarified that the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI) has received its P41 million funding for 2025.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approved the Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for the ICI initial funding in September.

However, it encountered a delay in the implementation of the budget.

"Ayon po sa DBM, iyong SARO po ay as early as September ay nandiyan na po," Castro told reporters during a Palace briefing.

(The DBM said the SARO for the budget was approved as early as September.)

"Ang natatangi lamang po siguro nagkaroon ng konting delay ay iyong pag-i-implement po... at iyong modified disbursement system. At ngayon po ay maitatanong po natin, iyong pondo po ay nasa kanila na," she said.

(They encountered delays in the implementation as well as the modified disbursement system, but right now, the budget is with the ICI.)

Rogelio "Babes" Singson, who has tendered his resignation from the ICI, earlier lamented the investigating body's lack of budget and enabling laws that would empower it in the fight against corruption in government.

Singson bemoaned that the ICI has been operating with inadequate funds following its establishment in September by President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. He also called on lawmakers to pass bills strengthening the powers of the investigating body as he lamented the legal limitations faced by the commission in its current form.

"Unfortunately, ICI was created, I would imagine, as an urgent matter, kulang sa budget, walang budget, nasa diyaryo 'yung budget, wala sa amin. Ganoon 'yung sitwasyon," Singson said.

(Unfortunately, ICI was created, I would imagine, as an urgent matter, with an insufficient budget. No budget. The budget is mentioned in the newspapers, but it is not with us. That has been the situation.) 

President Bongbong Marcos issued Executive Order 94 in September, which created the ICI as a non-partisan fact-finding body that would investigate irregularities in flood control projects and infrastructure projects in the last 10 years.

In November, the Office of the President approved a P41 million budget for 2025 for the ICI and 172 open positions for independent body. —VAL, GMA Integrated News