DoH opens door to ICI

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said he is willing to work closely with the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to investigate infrastructure-related anomalies within the Department of Health.

“What I promised ICI is that I will do an investigation and case buildup,” Herbosa said in a press conference at the commission on Friday.

He noted that around 300 super health centers remained non-operational, but emphasized that local government units (LGUs) were largely responsible for connecting the facilities to utilities and staffing them with doctors, nurses, midwives and pharmacists.

“The local government hospital is rotten. Who are you blaming? Isn’t it the secretary of Health?” he said, citing the Local Government Code of 1991, which holds governors and mayors accountable for building and maintaining provincial and district hospitals. Herbosa said the DoH’s role is limited primarily to providing grants.

Herbosa also said the ICI has extended its investigation beyond the DoH, inviting the participation of the Departments of Agriculture and Education.

“The ICI is not only for flood control; it is for government infrastructure,” he said. “All of us secretaries have infrastructure concerns within our departments.”

He cited an example in Marikina City, where a super health center was officially tagged as completed, but only its first phase had been finished.

ICI to mobilize teams

Meanwhile, retired Police General Rodolfo Azurin Jr., ICI special adviser, said the commission has begun organizing inter-agency teams to investigate hundreds of allegedly anomalous flood control projects across the country.

Azurin said the ICI is working closely with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and various engineering groups — including from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and civil engineers’ organizations — to conduct technical inspections and forensic validation.

“We are now organizing the units, agencies and personnel who will be part of the probe,” Azurin said. “We’ve been coordinating with the AFP, PNP, NBI, and engineers from the DPWH and other organizations who can help inspect and validate the identified projects.”

From 238,000 DPWH projects recorded between 2016 and 2025, about 30,000 were flood control projects. Azurin said the commission has tasked the AFP, PNP and DPWH to determine which of these are “ghost, substandard, unfinished, or overpriced.”

He disclosed that initial site inspections by the AFP and PNP have already uncovered 421 ghost projects nationwide.

“Verification has been completed — we’re now moving to technical validation with our pool of engineers,” Azurin said.

According to him, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group will lead field operations, while the Scene of the Crime Operatives will handle forensic examinations.

The 421 ghost projects cover the period from 2018 to 2025, though the review extends back to 2016.

“We’re also studying when these irregularities began to worsen so we can make recommendations to prevent them from happening again,” he added.

The ICI is also expanding its investigation to include farm-to-market roads, highways, and bridges across the country.

“There are so many questionable projects. We just need to prioritize, and we ask for the public’s patience as we conduct a thorough investigation,” Azurin said.

Once the engineering teams are fully organized, they will have one week to validate all 421 projects. The ICI expects to deploy the validation teams next week, followed by evidence gathering and case buildup.

“Within three to four weeks, we expect to file at least 15 cases,” Azurin said, adding that the ICI will also send formal communications to the offices concerned, including the DPWH.

The investigation focuses on projects implemented from 2016 onward to prevent overwhelming the commission’s resources.

“If we go another five years back, we might be swamped by the volume of cases,” Azurin said. “We’re tracing where these problems started — and when they began to worsen.”