DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/17 March)–An anti-corruption group has criticized the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) , set to terminate its operations on 31 March 2026, for failing to deliver on its promise of holding corrupt officials to account, saying the group created by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr in September 2025 was merely ‘performative.’
Leo XL Fuentes, co-covenor of the Stand Opposition to Plunder or STOP Corruption Alliance, told MindaNews on Tuesday that the independent body failed to fulfill its purpose of addressing corruption in the country.
“Until now, it clearly fell short of its promise to jail the ‘big time’ corrupt officials,” he said.
The ICI was established through President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s Executive Order No. 94, issued on September 11, 2025, at the height of massive corruption allegations involving ghost and substandard flood control projects, implicating officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, along with other government officials, including lawmakers and private construction firms.
According to EO No. 94, the commission was tasked to hear, investigate, receive, gather, and evaluate evidence, intelligence reports, and information against all government officials and employees, and any other individual, involved in anomalies, irregularities, and misuse of funds in the planning, financing, and implementation of government flood control and other infrastructure projects nationwide.
ICI chairperson Andres Reyes announced on 13 March that the body’s investigation would be terminated, stating that all documents and other evidence would be turned over to the Office of the Ombudsman after more than six months of probing the anomalous flood control projects.
But Fuentes said he was dissatisfied with the ICI’s performance, claiming it had engaged only in “media stunts” by showcasing failed infrastructure projects that the public was already aware of.
“For STOP Corruption Alliance, we see ICI as ‘performative. In the past, they were so occupied by media stunts showing failed projects that people already knew,” he said.
He said that STOP Corruption Alliance remains hopeful that the ICI will take significant action before it terminates its operations, but added that the group remains cautious given the commission’s “track record of being performative.”
On Monday, the “Duterte Bloc,” composed of Representatives Paolo Duterte, Omar Vincent, and Isidro Ungab of Davao City’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Districts, respectively, along with Puwersa ng Pilipinong Pandagat (PPP) Representative Harold James T. Duterte, filed a resolution requesting the Office of the President and the ICI to release its accomplishment reports.”
In their joint statement, the Duterte Bloc said, “We are essentially in the dark as to what has been discovered and what happens next” after the ICI terminates its operations.
Paolo Duterte was among those invited to attend the ICI’s investigation in December 2025. The lawmaker, however, wrote Reyes on 3 December 2025 that the commission has no power or jurisdiction over him.
Duterte stated that he welcomed the investigation into flood control projects in his district, but cited several reasons for declining to participate in the proceedings.
He said the creation of ICI was a “tool for pure political propaganda” of President Marcos to “weaken, or worse, destroy the name of Vice President Sara Duterte, former President Rodrigo R. Duterte, and our Duterte family’s good name.”
“To date, none of the reports of the ICI have been made public. Even worse, the report is for approval by the Office of the President. This begs the question: how independent can this commission be if it is under the direct control and supervision of the President?” the statement reads.
It added that the ICI did not publish the results of their investigation despite the legal requirement for publication.
“Last year, President Marcos promised that bigwigs would be in jail by December. As the ICI is wrapping up its operations, not only are there no bigwigs in jail, the final report is now with the President ‘for approval’,” it added. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
