MANILA: Thousands of Filipinos rallied across main Philippine cities on Sunday to protest a growing scandal over fake flood-control projects believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.
Over the past few weeks, investigators have uncovered massive corruption in flood prevention and mitigation projects. An audit ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. found last month that out of the 545 billion pesos ($9.54 billion) allocated to the projects since 2022, thousands of projects were found to be substandard, lacking proper documentation, or nonexistent.
Several powerful political figures have been implicated, according to ongoing House and Senate probes, igniting public outrage in one of the world’s most typhoon-vulnerable countries.
“The main objective of the mass action is to register the people’s anger with regard to the rampant corruption, the misuse of public funds, the fact that billions of pesos have ended up stolen by certain nefarious individuals with the connivance of certain government officials. That should be a cause for alarm,” Danilo Arao, journalism professor and convenor of election watchdog Kontra Daya, told Arab News at a main protest site in Luneta Park in the heart of Manila.
“Regardless of political ideology, it is important that people say that enough is enough and that we will not take this sitting down … What we’re trying to achieve is giving the government a wake-up call and that those who are involved should come out into the open. They should not hide behind their power and influence or whatever wealth they flex to the public.”
The protest was simultaneously taking place in several locations in Metro Manila, with thousands of people arriving to Luneta and to EDSA — the most important and busiest roads in the capital region.
“It shows the people are angry. People are united. People are coming from all walks of life, and everyone here is represented. This is more personal, not just political. Because it is a statement from the people that we are fed up,” said Roque Poblete, a business owner and member of a cooperative movement protesting in the EDSA area.
“It is important to show the government that all the people are united, to make some changes, not only in the government, but in the whole system.”
Anti-corruption rallies also took place in Cebu City — the second most important urban center after Metro Manila — in Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occidental, in Cagayan de Oro, the major gateway and economic hub in northern Mindanao, and in Marawi City, the capital of Lanao del Sur in Mindanao’s south.
The rallies, which were endorsed by Marcos, coincided with the 53rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law by his father and namesake. Every year, demonstrations are held on Sept. 21 to remember the abuses during the martial law period, demand justice, oppose repressive laws, corruption and rights violations.
Sunday’s protest was the biggest in a series of demonstrations that over the past weeks have been organized by civil society groups, Catholic church leaders, and anti-corruption watchdogs.
“We’re so tired of corruption, we’re so tired of those projects that we can’t see — those ghost projects. That’s why we are here, as seminarians, as members of the church, to fight for the rights of the people,” said Johnson Aban, a protesting seminarian.
“It’s really amazing that many people participated in this event, not just the people of the church, but also those in the civil society and other groups, even the youth participated. We hope that the government will be awakened with this kind of cry from the people.”
