Filipinos push back as flood control scandal sparks fresh protest wave

BJ I. MABINI didn’t plan on joining a street protest. But when he saw videos of politicians’ relatives flaunting designer bags and luxury cars online — days after headlines warned that billions of pesos meant for flood control had vanished — he said he had reached his limit.

- Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio Reporter

So on a sweltering afternoon in September, the 35-year-old freelance video director covered his face with a balaclava, pulled on a black shirt and found himself among thousands gathered at Manila’s Luneta Park. The crowd stood behind a flag showing a skull wearing a straw hat taken from the popular Japanese animé “One Piece,” a symbol that spread across social media as anger over the scandal grew.

“We're tired of this kind of system,” he said in Filipino. “So many people are suffering. So many Filipinos are struggling.”

What pushed him into the streets, he said, was the sense that corruption had become too big to ignore. “If this doesn’t wake people up, what will?”

His frustration reflects a mood that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has sought to contain as he confronts what may be the biggest crisis of his two-year administration: a multibillion-peso scandal involving hundreds of flood control projects that the government said were substandard, poorly documented or did not exist at all.

Mr. Marcos has tried to reassure the public by promising jail time for those involved before Christmas. Last week, he announced arrest warrants for a former congressional leader and several others linked to an anomalous public works deal in Bulacan, north of the capital.

He earlier flagged about P545 billion in flood control spending since 2022, saying about P100 billion in contracts went to only 15 contractors, including companies tied to political clans.

“So much money was lost,” Mr. Mabini said. “It’s about time we wake up as to how the system plays us.”

Corruption is a familiar story in the Philippines, but this one cuts deeper. The country is among the world’s most disaster-prone, with storms and monsoon rains routinely inundating towns and cities. Many Filipinos are now asking why immense spending on drainage, waterways and dikes has failed to ease frequent flooding.