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MANILA: Corruption has emerged as one of the main national concerns among Filipinos, a new survey showed on Monday, amid controversy over irregularities in flood control projects.

Nationwide outrage in the Philippines has grown since August as investigators uncovered massive fund misappropriation in flood prevention and mitigation projects.

An audit ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. found that of the 545 billion pesos ($9.54 billion) allocated to the projects since 2022, thousands were substandard, poorly documented, or nonexistent.

Several powerful political figures have been implicated, fueling public backlash in one of the world’s most typhoon-prone countries.

The situation has catapulted concerns over corruption to the second biggest worry of Filipinos, right after the increase in prices of basic goods and services, according to a survey by OCTA Research, an independent group of Philippine academics specialized in public opinion polls.

The survey asked respondents about the most important issues that the Marcos administration must act on immediately.

“No. 1 on the list is inflation — the rise in the price of goods and services. No. 2 is really corruption … For the first time in four years, the issue of corruption has become a top concern,” Prof. Ranjit Rye, OCTA Research fellow, told Arab News.

“(The) survey reveals a record surge in public alarm over corruption as this concern enters the top five urgent national issues for the first time.”

Concerns about corruption were followed by access to affordable food items, wage increases, and poverty reduction.

The study, conducted by OCTA in late September on 1,200 respondents, showed that public concern over corruption in government surged from 13 percent in July to 31 percent in September — the highest ever recorded by the pollster.

The sharp increase came as more details about the flood prevention corruption scandal were made public.

During a Senate hearing in early September, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said that economic losses due to corruption in flood control projects may have averaged $2.1 billion annually from 2023 to 2025, mainly due to ghost projects.

The findings have ignited public outrage, with activists, former Cabinet members, Catholic church leaders, retired generals and anti-corruption watchdogs organizing numerous protests and calling for sweeping criminal prosecution.

“What we’re seeing here is a shifting public focus towards governance and anti-corruption, apart from a focus on the economic realities in the Philippines,” Rye said.

“The sharp rise in corruption concerns indicates a growing public demand for integrity and accountability in government, as adult Filipinos increasingly turn their attention from just economic concerns to other issues, such as that of governance.”

KYIV/MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Monday that Budapest was chosen as the venue for an upcoming summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has good ties with both leaders.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Orban has quite warm relations with President Trump and very constructive relations with President Putin.

“And this, of course, greatly contributed to the understanding that was worked out during the last phone call,” he added, referring to last week’s conversation between Trump and Putin that led to them agreeing to meet in Budapest.

Orban, a nationalist and conservative, has repeatedly criticized Western backing of Ukraine, which neighbors his own country. Earlier this year, he said that Russia had already won the war in Ukraine.

Some European governments that support Ukraine have said it is inappropriate to host Putin for a summit in a European Union member state. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Monday described it as “not nice.”

Peskov said that work was only just beginning on the summit, which would be aimed at advancing a resolution to the Ukraine conflict, and developing relations between Russia and the United States.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he would be ready to join the Hungary summit if he is invited.

“If I am invited to Budapest – if it is an invitation in a format where we meet as three or, as it’s called, shuttle diplomacy, President Trump meets with Putin and President Trump meets with me – then in one format or another, we will agree,” Zelensky told reporters in remarks released on Monday.

The Ukrainian president criticized the choice of Hungary, which has a terse relationship with Kyiv and is seen as the most Kremlin-sympathetic member of the European Union.

“I do not believe that a prime minister who blocks Ukraine everywhere can do anything positive for Ukrainians or even provide a balanced contribution,” Zelensky said, referring to Hungarian leader Orban.

Kyiv has said it is ready to join a three-way meeting between Zelensky, Putin and Trump in a number of neutral countries, including Turkiye, Switzerland and the Vatican.

In 1994, Moscow signed a memorandum in Budapest aimed at ensuring security for Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan in exchange for them giving up numerous nuclear weapons left from the Soviet era.

“Another ‘Budapest’ scenario wouldn’t be positive either,” Zelensky said.

Trump has been aiming for a speedy end to the years-long conflict in Ukraine since he returned to White House earlier this year, pushing for a series of direct talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials and hosting Putin for a summit in Alaska – diplomatic efforts that have ultimately not lead to any breakthrough.