PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is committed to granting the Independent Commission on Flood Control the authority to issue its own “subpoena powers” to investigate lawmakers allegedly implicated in infrastructure anomalies, Malacañang said Monday. 

“Katulad ng sinabi niya. Gusto niya po talaga magkaroon ng subpoena powers ang Independent Commission. At kung Ito man ay hindi masusunod ay maaaring makasuhan ng administrative case — ang maaaring ipataw (As he mentioned, he really wants the Independent Commission to have subpoena powers. And if this is not followed, an administrative case may be filed — potentially resulting in sanctions),” Presidential Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer, Atty. Claire Castro told reporters in a press briefing here in Cambodia. 

In his podcast episode, Marcos highlighted the creation of the Independent Commission, which he appointed to investigate the widespread anomalies surrounding various flood control projects across the country.

“Wala pang formal name pero ‘yun ang – ‘yun ang binubuo namin. Independent commission para imbestigahan ito ngang mga lumalabas na anomalya sa mga flood control project (It doesn't have a formal name yet, but that's what we're working on – an independent commission to investigate the emerging anomalies in the flood control projects),” he said. 

Marcos added that the commission will be woking “separately from the government.”

“We will give them all the powers that are necessary for them to come to a conclusion, to come to some findings, para mayroon naman – alam natin kung ano ‘yung nangyari (so that we will know what will happen),” he said. 

The President expressed how he was invested to resolve the anomalies within the infrastructure sector.

“At isa pang bagay dito na napakahalaga para sa akin, dahil ang lalim na ng problema. Ang nais ko talagang malaman, papaano ba tayo umabot sa ganito? (One more thing that's very important to me, given the severity of the problem, is that I really want to understand how we got to this point),” Marcos lamented.

The commission is tasked to conduct a comprehensive review of projects, identify irregularities, and recommend measures to hold liable parties accountable, thereby safeguarding public trust in infrastructure spending.

Shameless

Marcos condemned the blatant corruption in publicly funded infrastructure projects, describing it as "garapalan" or shameless.

He then expressed his shock at the scale and depth of corruption in the government, noting that it was not like this when he served as governor of Ilocos Norte.

"Ako, nasa-shock ako. Hindi ako makapaniwala na nandito na tayo, na ganito na ang gobyerno (I’m shocked. I can’t believe we’ve come to this point, that the government has become like this),” the President said, shaking his head.

He lamented that the corruption in public infrastructure projects has worsened and evolved over several decades.

“Nung ako ay governor, hindi ganito. At bukod pa sa laki ng halaga ng nakukuha ng kung sino-sino na tao na wala namang karapatan na bulsahin ang pera na yan, bukod pa roon, ay hindi nila tinatago (When I was governor, it wasn’t like this. Besides the huge amounts of money that certain individuals are pocketing, who have no right to do so, what’s worse is that they’re not even hiding it anymore),” he added.

Marcos warned that legal actions will be pursued against individuals and entities involved in any fraudulent public infrastructure projects.