HOUSE WATCH | When “Mission Accomplished” Meets the Math

Declarations are easy.
Completion is counted.

Caloocan’s 2nd District Representative Egay Erice rejected claims that the Independent Commission on Infrastructure has finished its work, calling the statement insincere and an insult to the public.

Erice said less than 10% of the commission’s mandate was fulfilled—despite its charge to examine tens of thousands of infrastructure projects from 2016 to 2025 and to review how the national budget process may have enabled large-scale plunder. He cited a string of credibility hits: resignations of key members, admissions before Congress of insufficient resources and authority, and a failure to investigate critical personalities tied to the budget.

He also warned that deflecting the issue to the Office of the Ombudsman while “managing the narrative” risks hollowing out official statements—because when actions contradict words, public trust erodes.

The critique reframes the issue from status updates to substance. If the scope was massive and the output minimal, Erice argues, then closure claims don’t close the book—they spotlight the gaps.

In oversight, numbers settle arguments.
And here, the arithmetic is uncomfortable.