THE Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) on Thursday held its first meeting with various government agencies in a bid to recover stolen public funds intended for flood control and other infrastructure projects of the government.
Among those present during the meeting were representatives from Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Insurance Commission (IC), Land Transportation Office (LTO), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), Philippine Competition Commission (PCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The said agencies are part of the ICI’s Asset Recovery-Technical Working Group (AR-TWG) which is tasked to recover public funds and assets related to the flood control corruption scandal.
The Thursday meeting of the AR-TWG focused on establishing a unified framework for inter-agency coordination, data sharing, and legal processes related to the recovery of public funds and assets linked to irregular or anomalous flood control projects.
The group also outlined operational guidelines, timelines and priority actions in relation to ICI’s initiatives to hold those responsible for the anomalies accountable and recover government properties and assets from them.
‘Your participation and representation in this meeting will be highly valuable as we move toward a more coordinated and effective approach in recovering what rightfully belongs to our citizens,’ ICI chairman and retired SC Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr. said in his opening statement.
The ICI said the AR-TWG is closely coordinating ‘to prevent overlap on investigations, and to promptly address any bottlenecks that may arise in gathering documents and carrying out the necessary administrative and legal procedures-this unified process ensures efficiency and robustness.’