November 12, 2025 | 5:35pm
MANILA, Philippines — Three months after its creation, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure has now appeared to identify 80 flood control projects that it would prioritize in its ongoing investigation and case development, the commission’s special adviser said Wednesday, November 12.
The 80 projects are connected to the “15 or 18” contractors that Marcos identified in August as having cornered the lion’s share of all flood control works, ICI Special Adviser Rodolfo Azurin Jr. told reporters. The commission is investigating 421 projects total.
Azurin said the ICI will inspect flood control works in the Ilocos region this week and in Central Cebu by Sunday, targeting areas hit hard by recent typhoons.
Specifically, the ICI will focus its probe on Central Cebu, particularly Cebu City and Mandaue, where recent floods from Typhoon Tino caused some of the worst damage, Azurin said.
The inspection aims to determine why severe flooding occurred despite the large sums already allocated for flood control projects in the area, he added.
He cited Cebu Governor. Pamela Baricuatro’s earlier statement that the province had received over P26 billion in funding for flood control.
The ICI is getting bid documents through the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the National Bureau of Investigation, both of which have subpoena power. “We need to study the bid documents. Ibabangga namin ‘yan sa actual na implementation (We will cross-check that against the actual implementation),” Azurin said.
The commission held a meeting with the Office of the Ombudsman, Department of Justice, NBI, Department of Public Works and Highways, Philippine National Police, and Armed Forces at Camp Crame on Wednesday. They are planning to create a “unified action plan” to prepare for the possible prosecution of individuals and entities that have ties to anomalous flood control works.
In August, Marcos revealed that just 15 contractors secured nearly 20% of the P545.65 billion allocated for flood control projects from July 2022 to May 2025