House Minority Leader and Caloocan City 2nd District Rep. Edgar Erice on Friday, December 26, said the resignation of Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) Commissioner Rossana Fajardo confirms that the body created to probe corruption in public works has failed.
In a text message to The Situation Report on December 26, Erice said the successive exits of key figures from the ICI show that the executive order creating the commission “failed,” and that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had failed to carry out a credible investigation.
Erice cited the earlier resignations of former ICI commissioner Rogelio Singson and and former ICI special advisor Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, saying these developments undermined the independence and effectiveness of the commission.
The lawmaker also pointed to the stalled Senate inquiry, saying the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee had been “compromised,” while key figures linked to the controversy had either gone silent or left the country.
“Grabe na. Magalong, Singson and Fajardo resigns; it means that the ICI executive order failed. Marcos failed to investigate. Senate Blue Ribbon was compromised,” Erice lamented.
President Marcos created the ICI through an executive order as a fact-finding body to investigate alleged corruption, irregularities, and misuse of public funds in government infrastructure projects.
Likewise, Erice noted the death of former DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral, the silence of former House appropriations chair Elizaldy Co, and the continued absence of former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan as factors that, he said, deepened public suspicion.
He said the failure to jail what he described as the “big fish,” as well as the lack of investigation into Cabinet secretaries allegedly named in budget insertion controversies, further weakened the administration’s credibility.
“Cabral is dead. Zaldy Co suddenly went silent. Bonoan out of the country. Marcos failed to jail big fishes. Cabinet secretaries named were not investigated,” Erice said.
“It seems that somehow the President doesn’t mean what he is saying,” the lawmaker added, questioning the administration’s commitment to accountability and anti-corruption efforts.
Fajardo’s resignation, which will take effect on December 31, came after she said the ICI’s fact-finding role should now transition to agencies such as the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman, amid growing debate in Congress over whether the commission has reached the end of its mandate.
