Kamanggagawa Party-list Rep. Elijah “Eli” San Fernando didn't hold back when he learned that the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) wasn't willing to release the records of its past hearings on the flood control projects mess.

San Fernando called the decision “a clear sign that the commission is more interested in concealment than in accountability".

“Yung ‘C’ sa ICI, mukhang ‘Cover-up’ na ang ibig sabihin (The C in ICI appears to mean 'Cover-up'),” the House minority member said in a statement over the weekend.

The outspoken neophyte congressman took issue with ICI's apparent indecisiveness with the livestreaming of its future hearings on anomalous and "ghost" flood control projects.

“Una, sinabi nilang magli-livestream na sila. Tapos biglang binawi, kailangan daw muna nila i-review ang guidelines. Ngayon naman, ayaw nilang ilabas ang records ng mga nagdaang proceedings. Ano ba talaga ang itinatago nila?” he asked.

(First, they said they would livestream. Then suddenly they took it back, saying they needed to review the guidelines first. Now, they refuse to release the records of past proceedings. What exactly are they hiding?)

“Bakit ba hirap na hirap ang ICI na ipakita sa publiko ang proceedings nila? Ang daming palusot para lang maitago ang proseso (Why is the ICI having such a hard time showing their proceedings to the public? There are so many excuses just to keep the process hidden),” San Fernando said.

At kung hindi pa rin nila ito kayang gawin, maigi pa ay umalis na sila diyan. Magiging dagdag gastos lang sa mga manggagawa at ordinaryong Pilipino ang isang walang kuwentang opisina gaya ng ICI,” he added.

(And if they still can't do it, they might as well step down. A useless office like the ICI will only add to the financial burden on workers and ordinary Filipinos.)

"Transparency doesn't compromise an investigation; secrecy does. Ang pagtakip ng ICI sa mga nauna at mga susunod pang pagdinig ay lalong nagdudulot ng duda na hindi ito nangangalap ng ebidensya kundi naglilinis nito."

(The ICI’s concealment of past and upcoming hearings only deepens suspicion that it is not gathering evidence, but sanitizing it.)

He echoed his colleagues' take that ICI shouldn't be too strict about making its hearings public, since it's quasi-judicial in nature. It has no power to decide to promulgate, he noted.

"Being transparent is the bare minimum that ICI could do," said San Fernando. He claimed that by keeping the recordings secret, the ICI only fuels suspicion that it ias protecting powerful interests.

“Enough with the excuses. Kung walang pinuprotektahan at pinagtatakpan, buksan na nila sa publiko ang mga records at proceedings (If no one is being protected then open the records and proceedings to the hearings). No ifs, no buts,” San Fernando said.

“Transparency is not a favor the ICI gives the public—it’s an obligation," he further said.