Marcos not siding with anyone on ICI probe — Romualdez, allies included

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday assured the public that no one, not even his political allies or family members, would be spared from the scrutiny of the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) as it investigates alleged irregularities and ghost projects in the government’s flood control program.

During a press conference at Malacañang, Marcos was directly asked how the administration could ensure impartiality in the probe, particularly with powerful figures like House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, his cousin, and Ako Bicol party-list Representative Zaldy Co being linked to the controversy.

“They will not be spared,” Marcos said firmly. 

“Wala tayong kinikilingan, wala tayong tinutulungan, wala naman maniniwala sa iyo hangga't gawin mo eh, so gagawin namin (We will not side with anyone. We will not help anyone. No one will believe us unless we actually do it, so we will),” he added. 

The President underscored the independence of the ICI, which was formed to audit and investigate the reported anomalies in infrastructure projects, particularly those related to flood control, which have seen billions of pesos in public funds spent over the past years.

''What I want to stress here is that the independent nature of this commission,” he said. 

“Hindi kami makikialam sa trabaho nila (We will not intervene in their work). We will, of course, be in discussion with them. We will ask them what is happening, what they have you found, what we are doing next, etcetera. But we were not about to direct them as to how they were going to conduct their investigations, and we are going to leave it up to them,” Marcos further stressed.

The President also said the administration is open to recommendations from the ICI on how to prevent similar issues in future bidding processes and project implementation.

“I said we’re perfectly open to that. What we really want is to fix the system,” he added. 

Romualdez and Co were among the public officials named by controversial contractor Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya, who alleged systemic corruption and name-dropping in the awarding of flood control contracts. However, Discaya later clarified he had no direct dealings with either lawmaker.

Despite this, both Romualdez and Co have vehemently denied the allegations. Romualdez, who leads the House of Representatives, said the claim that his name was used to secure commissions in the project was “false, malicious, and nothing more than name-dropping.”

Co, a former chairman of the influential House Appropriations Committee and incorporator of Sunwest Inc., a top contractor in the Bicol flood control projects, also dismissed the allegations as “baseless and irresponsible,” saying they were “politically motivated and meant to mislead the public.” 

He noted he had divested from the firm before the projects in question.