Abandoned

It started as a promise – a promise to get to the bottom of a massive and audacious corruption scandal that unraveled so grotesquely before us and which is estimated to reach at least a trillion pesos in taxpayers’ money.

It was the sort of conclusion the Marcos administration wanted: quiet investigations, initially away from the public eye, as opposed to the high-profile Blue Ribbon committee hearings and stacks of documents for the filing of cases later on.

But the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), in the end, turned out to be toothless, without power and eventually abandoned.

And here we are, three months later, left with more questions than answers.

What happens to the investigation, which after President Marcos’ SONA in July, remains wanting. “Law and Order: Organized Crime” fans would wish we also had that Organized Crime Bureau in our country. After all, as we’re witnessing now, this “floodgate” is one giant systemic and organized crime, with the mob bosses and their under bosses in suits and signature ties occupying the halls of power.

ICI Commissioner Rossana Fajardo was the latest to resign, leaving ICI chairman Andres Reyes Jr. as the lone ICI commissioner to finish the job.

Reyes has hinted that the commission is now wrapping up its work and is now in the process of completing its final recommendations for flood works investigations.

Fajardo, the country managing partner at Sycip Gorres Velayo & Co., tendered her courtesy resignation with the belief that she had already performed her duties; she was tasked to do financial forensics – to closely review the money linked to the projects under investigation and help trace where public funds went, Presidential Communications Office Secretary Dave Gomez said.

Her resignation comes just three months after President Marcos appointed her to the job and after two abrupt resignations since the President created the body in September.

We were all shocked to hear the first time it happened – Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong stepped down after Malacañang said his job was limited to acting as a special adviser and not as an investigator, as the Palace had originally announced in the official statement about his appointment.

Then on Dec. 15, former public works chief Rogelio Singson also quit as commissioner due to health concerns brought about by the stress of investigating thousands of irregular government projects.

But Reyes said the ICI was created with a clear, time-bound mandate: to gather evidence, establish facts and propose corrective measures.

It would have looked more credible if the commissioners had just waited until the ICI had finally finished its work, because as it is now, the string of resignations just made it look like all but one jumped ship.

Only the commissioners know the real reasons for their resignations but one can’t help but speculate. Were they told to lay off from the big fish? Were they told to look the other way? Or did they simply feel helpless and toothless amid all the thievery?

Whichever it is, this raises doubts on the credibility of the Marcos administration to probe this whole scandal.

Dr. Tony Leachon, in a social post said, “Three departures in just a few months do not happen by accident – they happen when leaders tasked with reform feel abandoned in their mission.

“What the country is witnessing is not merely an administrative setback, but a failure of urgency at the highest level. The lack of decisive action has allowed the impasse to drag on, and many now perceive the President’s stance as a Pontius Pilate move – distancing himself from a crisis he was expected to confront.

“Leadership cannot be exercised through press releases or symbolic appointments. It requires moral courage, clarity of purpose and the willingness to confront wrongdoing even when it is politically inconvenient. When a commission meant to safeguard integrity is left to fend for itself, the message to the public becomes painfully clear: accountability is optional, and reform is negotiable. The absence of support, the absence of urgency and the unwillingness to challenge one’s own political allies have eroded confidence in the administration’s commitment to good governance.”

I agree with him on this point.

Considering the gravity of the findings, we have not heard anything strong or convincing enough from BBM since uttering that line in his State of the Nation Address, “Mahiya naman kayo!”

No big words. No big actions.

But the public has been waiting for bolder moves, given the brazen corruption that is wreaking havoc on our lives and our institutions, especially Congress. Ah, yes, Congress. Speaking of that once esteemed chamber, lawmakers Martin Romualdez and Chiz Escudero, erstwhile leaders of both the House and the Senate when the 2024-2025 budget was mangled and riddled with insertions, have yet to answer for what happened.

And that promise to put the guilty behind bars by Christmas? That turned out to be a nearly empty promise as well. No big fish are in jail except for private contractor Sarah Discaya.

Thus, after all is said and done, here’s what we have so far – empty promises, an abandoned commission and implicated powerful figures still out there, far from the hands of justice – whether in Manila, the US or Portugal.

But are we even surprised? This is the Philippines, after all, where life reads like a political thriller, always a page-turner with hardly an ideal ending, just surreal plot twists where key figures end up dead in ravines along corrupted roads.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.