ICI mobilizes AFP, PNP, NBI to probe 421 ghost projects

Retired Police General Rodolfo Azurin Jr., special adviser to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), revealed on Friday that the commission has begun organizing inter-agency teams in the investigation of hundreds of allegedly anomalous flood control projects across the country.

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

“In connection with the investigation, we are organizing the units, agencies, and personnel who will be part of the probe,” said Azurin adding, “We’ve been coordinating with the AFP, PNP, NBI, and engineers from the DPWH, AFP, and civil engineering organizations who can assist in inspecting and validating the identified projects.”

Out of 238,000 DPWH projects recorded from 2016 to 2025, nearly 30,000 were flood control projects. Azurin said the commission tasked the AFP, PNP, and DPWH to identify which of these were “ghost, substandard, unfinished, or overpriced.”

Azurin said physically, the AFP, PNP, and the Department of Development have already inspected the sites and identified 421 ghost projects nationwide.

Also, Azurin said the verification is done; we are now proceeding to technical validation with the pool of engineers.

Azurin said the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) will lead the field operations, while the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) will handle forensic examinations.

The 421 ghost projects cover the period from 2018 to 2025, although the review extends back to 2016. “We’re also looking at when these irregularities began to worsen so we can make recommendations to prevent them from happening again,” he explained.

The ICI said aside from flood control structures, it is also investigating farm-to-market roads, roads, and bridges nationwide. “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.

Azurin said that once the engineers’ team is fully organized, they will have one week to validate all 421 projects and the ICI expects to deploy the validation teams next week, after which evidence gathering and case buildup will follow.

He said within three to four weeks, we expect to file at least 15 cases, adding that the ICI will also send formal communications to concerned offices, including the DPWH, as part of the inquiry.

The investigation covers projects implemented from 2016 onward to avoid overwhelming the commission’s resources. 

Azurin said that if they will go further back or another five years, they might be swamped by the volume of cases,, thus they are trying to trace where these problems started and understand when they began to worsen.