The independent commission that will likely be unveiled by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. today won’t bar the House and the Senate hearings on anomalous flood-control projects, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said.
“That’s (ongoing congressional inquiries) not a problem because our independent commission, if it ever comes out, may just be about fact-finding only,” Bersamin said in an interview during the sidelines of a budget hearing in the Senate.
Asked if Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong has been invited to join the independent commission, Bersamin said: “I am not sure about that.”
Online news sites reported that Magalong and former Public Works chief Rogelio Singson have accepted the invitation for them to join the independent commission.
But Magalong said in a news forum he has yet to receive an invitation, noting that President Marcos earlier said no politicians will be part of the commission.
“It so happens that I’m a politician, so it seems I’m no longer qualified…I would accept that,” Magalong said.
A well-placed Palace source added: “The President has not made any statement to the effect that he has changed his mind about not inviting politicians to be part of the commission.”
Bersamin said the commission will likely have “a timeline, a sunset (provision).”
Mr. Marcos earlier said the independent commission will have subpoena powers to compel testimony and gather evidence, but stopped short of granting it contempt powers.
“We have made very sure that they are in fact independent, truly independent. So, there are no politicians there, just investigators, lawyers. It’s a technical exercise,” he said.
Its job, the President explained, is to establish facts and identify which projects were either non-existent or poorly built, and who benefited from the misuse of funds.
Findings will be forwarded to the Department of Justice or the Office of the Ombudsman for possible prosecution, he said.
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon earlier said he will dissolve the department’s internal probe into anomalous flood control projects to allow the independent commission being formed by the President to take the lead in the investigation.
“I will dissolve the DPWH internal investigation committee…I do not believe an agency can investigate its own. That cannot be,” Dizon said.
He said whatever information culled by the DPWH committee will be turned over to the independent commission.
For her part, House Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima led the filing of a measure seeking to create a separate independent commission to investigate the misuse of funds for flood control and other infrastructure projects.
“We believe that an Independent Commission established by law would have more teeth than just a panel to be created by the President. Through this independent and broad-based body with vast investigative and subpoena powers, we will ferret out the whole truth and exact full accountability that the Filipinos deserve,” De Lima said.
The proposed body shall have jurisdiction to hear and investigate all allegations, complaints, and active cases of graft, corruption, malversation, and plunder in infrastructure projects.
If enacted, all complaints involving corruption in infrastructure projects filed with the regular investigation and prosecution agencies shall be referred to the Commission to avoid duplication of investigations, De Lima said.
