The Independent Commission for Infrastructure’s (ICI) livestream of the flood-control probe is ‘meaningless if top officials would be spared,’ a left-leaning group said on Thursday.
‘The people want accountability from the top. The real masterminds are not the ground-level fixers or contractors, but the legislators and executive officials up to the President who made these scams possible in the first place,’ Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said in a statement.
Bayan’s concerns came after the ICI Executive Director Brian Hosaka and Special Adviser Rodolfo Azurin said in a press briefing on October 13 that ‘no high officials have been identified yet’ in the commission’s flood-control probe. The ICI has only recommended the filing of criminal charges against 15 contractors and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) district engineers so far.
However, in previous hearings in the Senate and the House, several testimonies have linked senators and congressmen to the anomalous flood-control projects, particularly through receiving kickbacks from contractors who have been awarded the infrastructure.
‘This is deeply alarming and raises serious questions about where the ICI investigation is headed,’ Bayan said.
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With this, Bayan promised that it would continue to organize mass actions, saying, ‘If the ICI refuses to hold senators, congressmen, and top officials accountable, then the people will hold them accountable in the streets.’
Bayan also urged the ICI to publicize its previous closed-door hearings, to assure the public of the ICI’s transparency.
A little over a month after the ICI began its proceedings, its chairperson, Andres Reyes, announced on Wednesday that the hearings would be open to the public starting next week.
The private proceedings received clamor from members of the House and the Senate, as well as progressive groups that have been demanding transparency from the investigative body.
In its five weeks of closed-door hearings, the ICI has called on several personalities to answer to its flood-control probe.
Among them are former House Speaker and presidential cousin Martin Romualdez Jr., contractors Cezarah ‘Sarah’ and Pacifico ‘Curlee’ Discaya, former Public Works Secretary, Sen. Mark Villar, former DPWH District Engineer Henry Alcantara, and former DPWH Assistant District Engr. Brice Hernandez, former DPWH Assistant District Engr. Jaypee Mendoza, and Former DPWH Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo.