FORMER SC JUSTICE NAMED HEAD OF PROBE BODY

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday named retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Andres B. Reyes Jr. as chairperson of the newly formed Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), the body that will investigate anomalous flood control and other infrastructure projects.

“Justice Andy Reyes will be the chairperson of the ICI. He was a presiding judge of the Court of Appeals before. He has been, for a very, very long time, with a very good record of honesty and fairness, and a good record of being able to find justice for those who have been victimized,” President Marcos said during a press conference held in Malacañan Palace.

President Marcos said former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Rogelio Singson and SGV and Co. Country Managing Partner Rossana Fajardo were the two ICI members.

“As the former DPWH secretary, he has a good idea of, shall we say, where the bodies are buried. So, that will give us immediately an advantage when the commission is doing its investigation,” said the President.

President Marcos said the other ICI member, SGV and Co. Country Managing Partner Rossana Fajardo, would bring her decades of auditing experience. “They are hoping to take advantage also with some of the experts that they have in SGV in terms of accounting, forensic accounting, all of these things that will be necessary,” the President said.

The Chief Executive said Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong will serve as Special Adviser, acting as the investigator for the ICI, bringing with him his track record as former head of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG).

“He was the one who wrote, as CIDG head, he was the one who wrote the seminal report on the Mamasapano incident. That’s when I came to know of him and saw that he has integrity. And then, again, when I went to Baguio, being a good investigator, he had a very, very detailed, very good report already. So, he’s been working on this for a while, so marami siyang mako-contribute,” President Marcos said.

The ICI is set to immediately start its investigation, with Malacañang expressing the hope that it will complete its work in a few months.

Under Executive Order No. 94 issued on September 11, President Marcos created the ICI to investigate and recommend appropriate charges against government officials, employees, or individuals involved in anomalies in flood control and related projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) within the last 10 years.

President Marcos, meanwhile, said the ICI will be an independent investigative body and will not be influenced by anyone, not even by heads or members of government agencies.

“What I want to stress here is that the independent nature of this commission. Hindi kami makikialam sa trabaho nila. We will, of course, be in discussion with them. We will ask them ano na nangyari, what have you found, what are we doing next,” President Marcos said

“But we were not about to direct them as to how they were going to conduct their investigations, and we are going to leave it up to them,” the President emphasized. ǀ