MANILA — A fresh affidavit alleging a wider network of officials involved in flood-control kickbacks has forced the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to halt its move to endorse cases against three senators, pending a thorough review of newly surfaced claims.
ICI chair Andres Reyes Jr. said the commission is reassessing its findings after former Public Works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo submitted a supplemental statement naming additional high-ranking officials — including a former Cabinet secretary — as supposed recipients of illegal payouts.
“We are re-evaluating everything because of the affidavit of Usec. Bernardo. So we’re studying that. So we will have a delay of maybe 10 days from last Friday,” Reyes told reporters on Wednesday.
Bernardo’s new affidavit drags in former DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan, aside from implicating Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Mark Villar, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, former senators Grace Poe and Nancy Binay, former Caloocan representative Mitch Cajayon-Uy, San Jose del Monte Mayor Rida Robes, and former DPWH undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral.
He also admitted to facilitating alleged kickbacks for Estrada and Villar.
The ICI had earlier recommended the filing of complaints against Estrada and Senator Joel Villanueva over anomalies tied to flood-control funding.
Reyes meanwhile welcomed the Ombudsman’s decision to file criminal charges against former Ako Bicol party-list representative Zaldy Co, several DPWH Region 4B officials, and Sunwest Corporation executives in connection with the same controversy.
“It shows that the machinery of law and due process is working as it should. This accomplishment is a triumph for the country and an encouragement to the employees of the ICI,” Reyes said.
The ICI is investigating what has grown into one of the biggest public-works corruption scandals in recent years, involving billions of pesos in flood-control allocations.
