Weak leadership and the ICI

The brazen corruption surrounding flood control and infrastructure projects is like acid poured on the nation’s wounds.

- ANDREW J. MASIGAN

It lays bare how government officials squander hard-earned taxes for personal gain while showing no regard for the people’s welfare. They put millions of Filipinos and their livelihoods in peril to floods while laughing all the way to the bank.

Yet, rather than wielding the full force of the presidency tohold the guilty to account and plug the loopholes in the system, President Marcos has met the scandal with a misplaced reliance on a toothless commission — the Independent Commission on Infrastructure (ICI).

The Filipino people would have wanted the President to match its rage (which he professed to share) with decisive actions. These were the steps expected of him:

First, immediately suspend persons of interest - not just contractors and middle-rank DPWH executives, but legislators as well. Any official under credible suspicion should have been relieved of duty pending investigation, not protected by political shields.

Second, the ombudsman and DOJ should have been strengthened and granted full operational autonomy to pursue cases without political interference.

Third, the assets of all persons of interest should have been frozen to prevent laundering or concealment, alongside the swift issuance of hold-departure orders.

Fourth, the President should have directed that hearings of the ombudsman and DOJ be made public, broadcast live and completed within a fixed timeframe.

Fifth, Congress should have been pressed to expedite the enactment of structural reforms (which I outlined last week) to ensure that institutional plunder never happens again.