ICI to get P41M budget until end of 2025
MANILA, Philippines — Nearly two months after its creation, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure will finally get its own personnel and a P41.5-million operating budget until the end of the year.
The Office of the President's approval of the ICI’s budget and staffing plan ends weeks of the commission operating “purely on volunteerism” since its creation in September, ICI Executive Director Brian Keith Hosaka said at a press briefing Wednesday, November 5.
“The Office of the President, acting on the recommendation of the DBM, has ordered the release of P41,481,000 as the Independent Commission’s initial operating budget chargeable to the 2025 contingent fund,” Hosaka said.
At least three reports have been produced by the much-vaunted commission that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. created in September to investigate corruption in flood control works. The reports, now with the Office of the Ombudsman, recommend charges against lawmakers accused of taking kickbacks from non-existent or botched projects, as well as Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials accused of negligence and collusion.
The ICI has been touted as the main vehicle of the Marcos administration's ongoing inquiry into the multibillion-peso flood control program of the DPWH, which has long been dogged by allegations of “ghost” and overpriced contracts. Gathered through closed-door hearings that some advocates say should have been public, the ICI’s findings are meant to help the Ombudsman pursue administrative and criminal cases against those implicated in the kickback schemes.
The P41.5-million budget recently approved for release to the ICI, Hosaka said, will cover operational and capital outlay requirements until the end of 2025.
"The Commission and the DBM are currently working on the other requirements for the immediate and prompt release and downloading of these funds,” he added.
A total of 172 contractual positions have also been approved to form the ICI’s staff.
“With this staffing pattern being approved now, with the budget hopefully to be downloaded soon to the Commission, we will be able to accommodate our organic staff already which would be composed of lawyers, accountants, and engineers,” the ICI executive director said.
Most of the ICI's personnel are still detailed from other government agencies, Hosaka shared. This means their salaries are still sourced through their "mother" agencies.
Hosaka also confirmed that members of the commission, including himself, have not yet received their paychecks. “Yes, they haven’t... I haven’t received my salary,” he said.
After initial resistance, the ICI has recently agreed to open its hearings to the public through online livestreams and is now drafting the guidelines for their implementation.
The ICI's headquarters are housed in a building at the Department of Energy compound in Taguig City.
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