The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) will continue to summon resigned Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co and former Public Works Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo, even after they were named among the respondents in the commission’s case referrals to the Office of the Ombudsman amid its probe into flood control anomalies.
In a press conference on Thursday, ICI Chair Andres Reyes said their first four referrals to the Ombudsman are separate from the ‘hundreds’ of other cases still under review. ‘The referral is only per case basis. The case is still with us. There are a lot of cases, approximately a hundred. So, we’re only referring one case, but the others still remain with us,’ Reyes said in a mix of Filipino and English.
‘So, we can still continue asking them, investigating them,’ he added.
Co was among the respondents in the ICI’s first and second referrals submitted to the Ombudsman on September 29 and October 29.
Meanwhile, Bernardo was included in the respondents listed in the ICI’s third and fourth referrals to the Ombudsman on November 4 and November 6.
The ICI chair said the commission has already issued two subpoenas to Co, the second requiring his appearance at a hearing on November 11 and 12. ‘Now I’m in public, I’m telling him if he wants to come, he can come to us here, and we will allow him to tell his side of the story,’ Reyes said.
He added that Bernardo has also been summoned to attend the ICI hearing on November 12.
The commission is set to resume its hearings on the flood control anomalies probe on November 11 and 12.