Up to 20 cases to ombudsman on flood control mess soon - ICI

Metro Manila, Philippines - A probe body looking into anomalous flood control projects will file with the Office of the Ombudsman up to 20 cases in the next two to three weeks, it said on Monday, Oct. 13.

In a press briefing, Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) special adviser Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the focus is on technical field inspection and validation of the 421 “ghost” projects initially identified by the police, military, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development, and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The commission said 261 of the non-existent and paid structures were in Luzon, 109 from the Visayas, and 51 from Mindanao.

ICI data show only 8,000 projects have been validated of the 29,800 flood control structures spanning two administrations from 2016 to 2025.

Azurin said the ICI will be referring complaints to the ombudsman and recommend potential issuance of an immigration lookout bulletin order and freezing of assets against personalities who will face charges.

The ICI did not identify projects up for case recommendations and the personalities behind them.

“Kung sino po ang mabilis, sino po ang ma-unang ma-validate, sino po ang unang makapag-kumpleto ng document, iyon po ang ifa-file,” Azurin said, adding that a certain team will physically inspect all questionable projects.

[Translation: Whoever is fast, whoever gets validated first, whoever completes the documents first, that is the one who will be filed.]

The ICI has so far made one recommendation to the ombudsman: the filing of criminal charges against former Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co, Sunwest Inc. officials, and a number of public works personnel over a substandard project in Oriental Mindoro.

Expose corruption not with ‘anger’

Meanwhile, Azurin took his oath as well on Monday, Oct. 13, and vowed to expose corruption not with anger but through justice.

He validated calls from different sectors, including pleas for the military and police to join the fight against corruption.

The former Philippine National Police chief, however, said change cannot happen “through chaos, division, or violence.”

“We have seen in our history that revolutions in the streets may topple governments, but they do not always heal a nation. Today, we are called not to fight one another, but to stand together. Not through protests or rallies, but through truth, unity, and justice,” he said in his speech.

“Today, we are called not to fight one another, but to stand together. Not through protests or rallies, but through truth, unity, and justice. Let us expose corruption not with anger, but with justice. Let us work hand in hand to bring the guilty to account and to finally end the suffering of our people,” Azurin said.

In a statement, the organizer of the historic ‘Trillion Peso March,’ an anti-corruption protest, denounced the ICI adviser’s pronouncement.

It said the sluggish progress in holding people accountable in the flood control scandal makes protests even more essential.

“With Congress shying away from the issue, the ICI continuing to act behind closed doors, and not a single corrupt official in jail over 3 weeks after the largest anti-corruption rally in our country's recent history, it is clear that protests in the spirit of People Power and the democratic order enshrined in our 1987 Constitution are all the more necessary,” the group said.