Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Article (news)

Rowegie Abanto

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1759815710118cropped-photo-collage.png (1).png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima on Tuesday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to certify as urgent a House bill giving the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) more powers. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN New/PCO handout</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima on Tuesday urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to certify as urgent a House bill giving the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) more powers.</p><p>House Bill 4453 authorizes the ICI &quot;full subpoena and contempt powers&quot; and mandates the body to make its proceedings public, said De Lima, one of the authors of the proposed law.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/6/more-transparency-sought-from-ici-1729">More transparency sought from ICI</a></div><p>&quot;People are most interested about the investigation. The ICI really needs more powers and more transparency,&quot; De Lima said.</p><p>Marcos&#x27; Executive Order 94 created the ICI to conduct an independent inquiry into the corruption of multibillion-peso flood control funds, but it lacks the power to contempt individuals. </p><p>Pressure is also mounting for the ICI to make its proceedings public.</p><p>An investigative body like the ICI should be transparent, De Lima told ANC, saying people need to know the developments in the investigation to &quot;allay fears that there might be eventual cover-up.&quot; </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/6/cbcp-senate-coup-attempt-raises-suspicion-of-cover-up-amid-corruption-probes-1237">CBCP warns Senate coup attempt raises &#x27;suspicion of cover-up&#x27; amid corruption probes</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>MORALES HITS ICI&#x27;S &#x27;SECRECY&#x27;</strong></div><div><strong><br/></strong></div><p>In a separate interview, former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales told ABS-CBN News&#x27; Karen Davila that she &quot;cannot be optimistic&quot; about the ICI probe because the hearings are &quot;held in secrecy.&quot; </p><p>&quot;They don&#x27;t involve the public. I don&#x27;t understand why because even the courts, sitting as courts, [are] open to the public. It&#x27;s only when in the interest of morality and decency that the judge... conduct hearings in private,&quot; said Morales, who was also former Supreme Court associate justice.</p><p>&quot;I don&#x27;t understand why they don&#x27;t do it transparently, publicly,&quot; she also said. </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/10/7/ici-executive-director-denies-claims-a-member-of-body-wants-to-quit-1020">RELATED: No ICI member wants to quit: executive director</a></div><p>ICI Executive Director Brian Keith Hosaka said they had decided to conduct the proceedings out of the public eye to <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/9/29/ici-agenda-airtight-cases-not-trial-by-publicity-0925">avoid a trial by publicity</a>.</p><p>But Morales argued &quot;the mere fact that Congress or Senate conducts hearings openly it&#x27;s not trial by publicity because people who will decide will be the ICI people.&quot;</p><p>She noted that the ICI&#x27;s decision would only be &quot;recommendatory&quot; and that the Office of the Ombudsman or the Department of Justice would file the cases.</p><p>Morales also revealed that she had received an offer to be the legal representative of the body but declined it, saying &quot;I&#x27;m too old for that.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5lAydSl75j4?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Of5cjgzFrI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

De Lima calls on Marcos to certify as urgent a bill giving ICI more teeth

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De Lima calls on Marcos to certify as urgent a bill giving ICI more teeth

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published October 07, 2025 01:42 PM PHT

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Updated October 07, 2025 01:46 PM PHT

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ICI

Independent Commission for Infrastructure

Flood Control Scandal

Flood Control

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