Senator Bam Aquino on Sunday vowed to continue pursuing the investigation into alleged irregularities in multibillion-peso flood control projects across the country, amid growing public calls for accountability.
Aquino said during a visit to Naga City that several people personally urged him to ensure that the Senate probe would not be abandoned.
“An airport shuttle bus driver approached me, asking me to pursue the investigation into the questionable flood control projects,” he said. “The next day, in the public schools, the teachers said the same thing. They told me not to let go of the investigations. To jail those involved. The people are angry.”
Aquino said the next move now lies with government agencies tasked to prosecute those behind the anomalies. “It’s time for action, and the onus is on the government to act on the evidence, to act on the cases. That’s what the people are looking for right now,” he said.
“The best Christmas gift for people is that cases are filed and someone goes to jail,” he added.
Aquino said the investigation must not only lead to the filing of cases but also to the recovery of public funds and the introduction of reforms to curb systemic corruption in the budgeting process.
“We need to see people jailed. The money needs to be returned. But we need to see some systems put in. So this is a system, live-streaming the bicam and putting the documents online. That’s a systemic change,” he said.
The senator’s remarks came after the Independent Commission for Infrastructure announced on Friday that it had begun forming interagency teams to look into hundreds of questionable flood control projects nationwide.