Marcos: No rush in flood control probe, cases must hold in court

By Darryl John Esguerra, Philippine News Agency

Marcos maintained that accusations and testimonies alone would not suffice in court without solid evidence. (PCO photo)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said his administration will not rush the investigation into the multibillion-peso flood control projects mess, saying poorly built cases could derail the government’s anti-corruption drive.

Despite mounting calls to immediately jail those implicated, Marcos maintained that accusations and testimonies alone would not suffice in court without solid evidence.

“We know many of these people are not innocent. But if you’re going to bring them to court, you must have a very strong case,” the President said in the teaser of his latest podcast episode made public Sunday.

“Look, anong mangyayari? Minadali natin, hindi kumpleto ‘yung ebidensya natin, malabo ‘yung ebidensya natin pero pinipit natin. Natalo ‘yung kaso (Look, what would happen if we rushed the investigation? We would have incomplete and unclear evidence. But we still pursued the filing of cases. The result: We lost the cases),” he added.

“Can you imagine that right now? I think that would be much, much, much worse.”

The President said the law must be followed and ensure that the government would go “after the guilty ones.”

“We have to follow the law. Otherwise, whatever we do is not legitimate. And we have to be very, very clear that we go after the guilty ones,” he said.

Marcos earlier created the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to investigate alleged anomalous projects, particularly flood control works, over the past 10 years.

The ICI’s findings will be the basis for recommending the filing of charges.

Almost a month since the appointment of its three members, the ICI has conducted closed-door hearings and summoned government officials and contractors linked to questionable projects.

In an earlier podcast episode, Marcos vowed to pursue the “big fish” once the ICI completes its inquiry into what he described as one of the most brazen corruption scandals in recent years.