The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) plans to summon former speaker Martin Romualdez, resigned congressman Zaldy Co, as well as Senator and former public works chief Mark Villar as part of its ongoing investigation on corruption in infrastructure projects.
Brian Keith Hosaka, ICI executive director, said Romualdez ‘has been invited already,’ but did not specify when the subpoena was issued.
It remains unclear whether Co, who stepped down from his post on Monday and is currently abroad, has also received an invitation.
Romualdez and Co are key figures in the investigation on anomalies in flood control projects, being the speaker and the chairman of the House appropriations committee, respectively.
Romualdez, a cousin of the President, relinquished his speakership on Sept. 17. During a hearing by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, retired Marine sergeant Orly Guteza testified delivering 46 suitcases of ‘basura (trash)’ – code for kickback money – to Romualdez’s residence. Co had also received several suitcases containing cash, according to Guteza.
On Sept.24, former public works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo appeared before the ICI. He did not speak to the media.
Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) also visited the ICI’s office in Taguig to face the three-member fact-finding body.
Hosaka announced that starting next week, ICI hearings would be held every Tuesday and Wednesday.
Waste of time
For former finance chief Benjamin Diokno, lawmakers should drop their ongoing investigations on the alleged corruption in flood control projects and instead prove their integrity by passing a national budget without congressional insertions for next year.
Calling the ongoing investigation a waste of time, Diokno said passing an insertion-free budget for 2026 would be a litmus test of politicians’ sincerity as well as their act of contrition that could prove that they aredifferent from lawmakers from previous congresses.
‘This is just publicity, they are just taking advantage of the airtime. There is no point here,’ he said. ‘Cut the drama, cut the telenovela, focus on the 2026 budget.’
Over P142 billion, primarily allocated for infrastructure projects, was reportedly inserted into the 2025 national budget during the bicameral conference committee deliberations held in the latter part of 2024.
Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman Sen. Ping Lacson said the committee is set to release a report detailing insertions by ‘almost all’ senators of the 19th Congress of at least P100 billion worth of projects into the 2025 national budget.
Diokno, who sits as a member on the country’s Monetary Board, said that congressional hearings would lead nowhere and further erode the confidence of foreign investors in the country ‘since their only output is to recommend to the Department of Justice or the Office of the Ombudsman to go after some people.’
P220 million earnings
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it expects to earn P220 million if the 13 luxury vehicles owned by the contractor couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya, would be auctioned off.
Customs Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno yesterday said there were sufficient grounds for the government to seize and offer for auction 13 of the 30 luxury vehicles of the Discaya couple, as there are irregularities in their importation and documentation. Of the 13 vehicles, seven were said to have no Import Entry or Certificate of Payment.
Nepomuceno said they have issued warrants of seizure of detention on the 13 cars, and would give the Discayas 15 days to present the proper documents or face forfeiture of their ownership of the vehicles in favor of the government.
The first hearing on the status of the vehicles has been set for Oct. 9.
The vehicles consist of Toyota Tundra, Toyota Sequoia, Mercedes-Benz AMG SUV, Mercedes-Benz G 500, Lincoln Navigator 2021, Bentley Bentayga, Lincoln Navigator 2024, GMC Yukon Denali, Cadillac Escalade 2021, Maserati Levante Modena, GMC Yukon Denali, Cadillac Escalade ESV and Rolls Royce Cullinan.
The 17 other cars were found with correct payment and certification and would be returned to the Discaya family.
The BOC chief also said 10 Custom employees, including examiners, appraisers and deputy collectors, have been issued show cause orders requiring them to explain why they should not be sanctioned for allowing the release of the 13 vehicles.
Nepomuceno said they have requested a meeting with the ICI so they can share information related to the flood control anomaly.
Meanwhile, the ex-wife of controversial Bulacan district engineer Brice Hernandez resigned as OIC of the DPWH Bureau of Research and Standards Technical Services Division last Sept. 22 or just more than a month after her appointment on Aug. 11.
Hernandez earlier drew flak for mentioning in his Senate testimony that he is married to an employee of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and not to Mel Clarisse Sto. Domingo of DPWH.
It was Hernandez’s lawyer Ernest Levanza who clarified that Sto. Domingo is no longer the wife of his client, who is now married to a certain Rica of GSIS.
‘Brice and Rica got married in 2023 and remain together to this day. We hope this clears the air and puts an end to the confusion,’ Levanza said.