MANILA – In a high-stakes hearing marked by jurisdictional clashes and political finger-pointing, House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos voluntarily appeared before the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) on Thursday, December 4, 2025, to address allegations of budget insertions in flood control projects, but insisted on a closed-door session without livestream to safeguard sensitive details. Meanwhile, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte outright rejected the ICI’s summons, slamming the probe as a Marcos-orchestrated “diversion” lacking legal bite over sitting congressmen, in a move that has drawn sharp rebukes from critics and highlighted the commission’s fragile mandate amid the P20-billion flood scandal’s deepening shadows.
Sandro Marcos, son of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., strode into the ICI’s Manila session with his legal team, ready to spill on claims by resigned Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co that he funneled at least P50 billion in public works insertions across the 2023, 2024, and 2025 budgets – funds allegedly diverted to family-linked projects in Ilocos and Eastern Visayas. But the testimony stayed shrouded: Marcos’ lawyer, Michelle Lazaro, argued that open doors could “jeopardize or compromise the investigation,” a plea that ICI Chair Andres Reyes Jr., a former Supreme Court justice, granted, opting for privacy over public spectacle. “Our client has submitted himself voluntarily and wants to share as much information as he can, as candidly as possible,” Lazaro stated beforehand. Post-hearing, Marcos doubled down to reporters: “I’m happy for them to do so, if they believe that there is no information there that will jeopardize their investigation. I am here to lend anything that I know that will aid the ICI… I am not hiding anything.”
The closed curtains drew immediate flak, with ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio blasting it as a “convenient veil” that shields the powerful while the probe – born from Executive Order No. 51 to unearth graft in flood mitigation – grinds on in secrecy. Tinio, who flagged Davao’s river defenses as riddled with P135.14 million in overlaps and P3.44 billion in unspecified contracts, called for full transparency: “The public deserves to hear the truth, not whispers behind closed doors.” The ICI, already thinned by resignations like Rogelio Singson’s over stress and threats, faces mounting doubts on its teeth – a commission with investigative zeal but no subpoena power over lawmakers, relying on voluntary nods that Duterte’s snub exposes as shaky.
Duterte’s two-page retort to Reyes, dated December 3, was a scorched-earth slap: “The Constitutional separation of powers bars the ICI, which is part of the executive branch, from including me in your executive mandate. Your power is purely limited to the executive branch.” He branded the summons vague and baseless, insisting he wasn’t on the House appropriations committee from 2019-2022, and flipped the script: “It is my impression that the ICI was created by President Marcos to save himself, his family, ex-Speaker Romualdez and ilks and provide a diversion cover up for their misdeeds.” Duterte challenged the panel to probe Marcos’ Ilocos and Eastern Visayas projects instead, echoing Co’s videos alleging Palace-level meddling in pork-barrel plunder from 2022-2025.
The snub drew swift fire: Akbayan Rep. Leila de Lima labeled it “consistent in their (Dutertes’) cowardice,” tying it to a pattern of evasion from the drug war era to today’s graft grapple. “Because in this case, you can see some individuals trying to be smart just to evade accountability, finding loopholes in ICI’s power just to elude investigation,” de Lima fumed. Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon called it a “serious setback,” urging Marcos to appoint an expert replacement for Singson to keep the probe’s pulse pounding.
The flood fiasco – a P20-billion black hole of ghost dikes, substandard builds, and kickback rings – has left communities like Bulacan’s vulnerable to every typhoon’s tantrum, fueling the Trillion Peso March’s roar for “jail the corrupt.” Marcos’ closed-door dance and Duterte’s defiant dodge risk turning the ICI into a toothless tiger, a Marcos creation now cornered by constitutional kinks. As hearings resume December 3-5 with summons for Sandro Marcos and others, the question looms: Will the flood of accountability wash away the whispers, or drown in the din of deflection? In a nation where every peso counts and every phantom project floods lives, this jurisdictional joust isn’t just legal limbo – it’s a litmus for a leadership legacy on the line.