The proposed Independent People’s Commission (IPC) will carry on investigating anomalies from the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) should it be dissolved, according to Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III.
Sotto said this in an interview over DWIZ on Saturday after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin ‘Boying’ Remulla recently said that he believes the ICI only has about a month or two before the investigating body could turn over the work to his office.
According to Sotto, the IPC, which he filed last August, could continue the work of the ICI, saying that his proposed bill may be passed ‘in one or two months’ since it is already on the second reading.
The Senate president said the IPC has prosecutorial powers, including the power to issue subpoenas and the power to hold individuals in contempt.
He likewise noted that unlike the ICI – which is mandated to investigate solely infrastructure projects – his version of the IPC will probe any kind of anomaly in the country.
‘All the anomalies, the corruption, the anomalies in the NIA (National Irrigation Administration), in agriculture-all of that will be prosecuted. The IPC can investigate all of that,’ he said.
‘Maybe make it seven’
‘I would like to add that aside from the five, maybe we can make it seven so that one representative is from the DOJ (Department of Justice) and one representative is from the Ombudsman so that it can be done directly. Isn’t it good that after the investigation, the Ombudsman will no longer investigate? Because there already is one,’ Sotto pointed out.
Sotto said the qualification for the head of the IPC will also be a former chief justice, just like in the case of the ICI, which is currently headed by former Supreme Court Justice Andres Reyes Jr.
When asked if the president will also be the one to appoint the members of the IPC, Sotto answered in the affirmative.
The ICI was created by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. through Executive Order No. 94 in September this year.
The commission currently has powers limited to conducting hearings, taking testimonies, and receiving, gathering, and evaluating reports, evidence, and information before recommending the filing of charges to the Office of the Ombudsman.
ICI Executive Director Brian Hosaka recently said the body would continue to fulfill its mandate until its work is completed or until it is ‘dissolved by the President (as) stated in the executive order that created the ICI.’
After its first three months of operations without a budget, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released the commission’s P41-million budget this Friday.
The DBM’s issuance of the Notice of Cash Allocation, which allows the ICI to withdraw the funds from government-servicing banks, came after outgoing ICI commissioner Rogelio ‘Babes’ Singson lamented that budgetary constraints became a reason why the fact-finding body could not fully do its mandate.
On Thursday, Singson, who resigned from the ICI due to health reasons, urged the Congress to pass a law that would strengthen and give the commission more authority to conduct a speedier investigation on infrastructure anomalies. /mr