MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday encouraged Filipinos to express outrage over alleged widespread corruption in flood‑control projects but urged that demonstrations remain peaceful, saying an independent investigation would hold even his allies to account.
Marcos said televised congressional hearings have identified lawmakers, public works engineers and construction firms accused of pocketing large kickbacks from flood‑mitigation contracts, and he pledged the investigation would be thorough. Lawmakers and companies named in the inquiries have been accused of using proceeds to finance lavish lifestyles, including mansions, European luxury cars and high‑stakes casino gambling, despite persistent poverty in parts of the country.
"If I wasn’t president, I might be out in the streets with them," Marcos told reporters, adding, "Of course they are enraged, of course they are angry, I’m angry." He urged citizens to "let them know your sentiments, you let them know how they hurt you, how they stole from you, shout at them and do everything, demonstrate, just keep it peaceful." Marcos first raised the issue in his July state of the nation address and said recent inspections uncovered substandard or non‑existent projects in flood‑prone areas including Bulacan province north of Manila.
The government has spent an estimated 545 billion pesos ($9.6 billion) on thousands of flood mitigation projects over the last three years. Authorities are reviewing those works to determine which are deficient or entirely unbuilt, and the House of Representatives and the Senate have held televised inquiries that have helped drive public anger.
Outrage has been vented widely online and voiced by Catholic church leaders, business executives and retired military officers. Smaller, relatively peaceful street rallies have followed, in contrast to more violent demonstrations seen recently in Nepal and Indonesia. A larger protest is planned for Sept. 21 at a pro‑democracy shrine in metropolitan Manila near guarded upscale neighborhoods where some of the suspects reside; police and military units have been placed on alert ahead of that demonstration.
Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro cautioned over the weekend against those she said may seek to exploit public anger to destabilize the government, saying "people who have ill intentions and want to destabilize the government" should not be allowed to ride the wave of legitimate grievance. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. issued a joint statement rejecting calls for the military to withdraw support from Marcos. The statement said the 160,000‑member armed forces are nonpartisan, professional and "abides by the constitution through the chain‑of‑command." The officials did not elaborate.
During a recent rally, a speaker urged the military to abandon its loyalty to Marcos and called for a nonviolent "people power" revolt, echoing the army‑backed uprisings that ousted Marcos's father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001. Organizers and rights groups have emphasized nonviolence, and authorities have signaled they will monitor demonstrations closely.
Marcos ordered the formation of an independent commission to probe the alleged graft. The commission's scope and timeline have not been fully disclosed, but Marcos said it would not spare allies in either chamber of Congress. Prosecutors and investigators have yet to announce any formal charges beyond the public naming of suspects in the hearings, and the government has continued reviews of project contracts and construction records.
The scandal has thrust long‑standing concerns about procurement, oversight and corruption in infrastructure projects into the spotlight, raising questions about how billions of pesos were disbursed for works that lawmakers and investigators now say were often substandard or unbuilt. The coming weeks are likely to test whether public pressure, televised inquiries and the independent commission will translate into prosecutions, recoveries of public funds and reforms of the procurement process.
Authorities said they will continue to allow peaceful protests while maintaining public order as investigations proceed and the administration seeks to balance openness to criticism with concerns about potential destabilization efforts.