EDITORIAL - After ICI, what next?

As previously announced, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure officially ceases to exist today.

The ICI was formed after the scandal erupted over large-scale corruption in the budgeting process and flood control projects. Its creation reinforced public expectations of accountability, which were first raised by President Marcos when he urged crooks to have some shame – mahiya naman kayo – during his State of the Nation Address.

Some quarters, noting that the ICI’s official demise falls on April Fools’ Day, say the nation was fooled into believing that the body would accomplish what congressional investigations failed to do: catch the big fish and turn them over for frying before the courts.

Instead the ICI gradually faded away, fully operating only for three months and then seemingly plodding along following the resignation of two of its three commissioners.

ICI members resisted calls to conduct public hearings, belatedly and grudgingly livestreaming the proceedings only briefly and in a limited way. It received its funding only in December, and was then kept in limbo on whether or not it would have new commissioners and continue with its task.

The fate of the ICI is now feared to reflect the fate of the anti-corruption crackdown. High public expectations, stoked by pronouncements of the President and his top officials themselves, were dashed as the holidays came and went with no big fish having an unhappy Christmas behind bars.

Even the probe of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee is seen to have stalled as the anomalies started leading to the doorsteps of officials and other people within the President’s inner circle.

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong was the first to raise this point, when he resigned from the ICI as special adviser after Malacañang contradicted its initial press statement and said he had not been designated as an investigator of the commission. Magalong lamented that he seemed to have “struck a nerve” and “hit too close to home.” He did not elaborate.

With the ICI’s shutdown, Malacañang stressed yesterday that the flood control mess had not been forgotten, and that the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice would pick up where the commission left off. Malacañang said the ombudsman and DOJ were “overwhelmed” by the recommendations in the ICI report.

The actions of the ombudsman and DOJ will show if the commitment to the anti-corruption campaign is genuine. Speed in any such actions will make the sincerity more believable.