The corrupt are terrorists; AMLC seize their assets now

At the Oct. 22, 2025 Senate committee hearing to grant extraordinary powers to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, a debate ensued between former Senate president Frank Drilon and former Chief Justice Reynato Puno over the grant of such powers.

- TONY LOPEZ

Drilon wanted the ICI to be merely a fact-finding body with no power to prosecute, freeze assets or deposits of suspects, nor issue hold departure orders (HDOs).

On HDOs, Drilon was adamant. “I would not agree that we place this in the hands of an administrative body,” Frank protested. “It must be a judicial determination because it involves the rights of individuals to travel, the right to abode. HDO is a very powerful power of government, and to allow it-it must be a judicial finding.” He also doubted whether the ICI should be given the power of contempt in case witnesses or resource persons refuse to cooperate. Floodgate’s biggest criminals, the spouses Curlee and Sarah Discaya, have refused to cooperate with the ICI.

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary remedies,” countered former SC chief Puno. “As soon as these extraordinary times will be gone, when normalcy will again prevail, it is easy for Congress to get back all these powers,” he assured.

Three anti-terrorism laws enable the government to grant the ICI powers it wants for it to be effective in ferreting out and punishing the culprits behind the P1-trillion floodgate - the biggest single act of corruption, the biggest syndicated stealing of taxpayers’ money disguised as flood control money.

The money was stolen by ranking officials led by leaders of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, in tandem with corrupt engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways, corrupt private contractors and corrupt functionaries of key government agencies like the Department of Budget and Management and the Commission Audit.