Trillanes case vs Bong Go, Rodrigo Duterte not ICI's priority
The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) will not prioritize the plunder and graft case that former senator Sonny Trillanes filed against Senator Christopher "Bong" Go and former president Rodrigo Duterte before the Office of the Ombudsman .
ICI Executive Director Brian Hosaka said in a press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 28 that the body will need to focus on other matters.
These include ICI's staffing pattern as well as building up cases that have to do with the 421 identified "ghost" flood control projects.
Since Trillanes already filed a complaint against Go and Duterte in relation to the P7 billion worth of alleged anomalous infrastructure projects from 2007 to 2018 before the Ombudsman, Hosaka said referring Trillanes' report to the ICI will already be redundant.
"We don't want to be redundant in the sense that medyo hindi pa nga kumpleto 'yung aming staffing pattern (our staffing pattern is not even complete yet), so we would rather concentrate our efforts to new case build ups, meaning referrals to the Ombudsman of a different project involving the 421," Hosaka said.
Hosaka also answered in the affirmative when asked if Trillanes' report was not ICI's priority.
"Right now, it's not [the priority] because of our limited staffing pattern so uunahin muna namin yung mga wala pang referrals (we will prioritize those cases that are not yet referred to the Ombudsman) but have been identified to have been alleged ghost projects," he added.
ICI was established by President Marcos as a fact-finding body on the anomalous flood control projects across the country. It can only refer possible cases to the Office of the Ombudsman, which will then file charges against the involved personalities before the Sandiganbayan.