Do Philippines Anti-Corruption Protests Signal Change?
It is the poorest Filipinos who bear the brunt of natural disasters, compounded by graft and weak risk reduction systems.
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Philippines to protest against alleged government corruption that has seen up to one trillion pesos (17 billion US dollars) of peoples’ money lost to fake or substandard flood control projects.
The protests began last month and Filipinos continue to hope – but doubt -- that their government will punish the corrupt officials and public works contractors who brazenly enriched themselves through huge kickbacks and below-par flood control projects.
In this Southeast Asian country which never seems to find the lasting solutions to quick-rising floods during heavy rains, it is always the poorest who bear the brunt of the effects of these and other disasters, compounded by weak government response and poor risk reduction systems.
The country experiences up to 20 typhoons a year, with floods and landslides displacing thousands of families.
"Rebuilding our house after the floods is hard and exhausting,” said Marivic, 50, a housekeeper from Marikina City, known as a catch basin of floods and waters from nearby mountain areas.
It is especially hard for her to replace basic furniture and appliances ruined after days of having been inundated in mud and floodwaters on her income of only of 12 dollars a day.
“We need to move on in order to survive,” Marivic continued. Recently, she borrowed money from a cooperative in her community which offers low interest rates so that she could have a third floor built onto her home that would be safe from floods.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr may have earned a few political points when he spotlighted the widespread corruption in flood-control projects in his fourth state of the nation address in July 2025. However, some fear that Marcos Jr may weaponize the issue in order to block any return to the presidency of the Duterte family.
Marcos Jr’s predecessor and Davao City mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, remains in detention at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on three counts of crimes against humanity in relation to his anti-drug war campaign while in office. His children hold various political positions, including daughter Sara Duterte, the incumbent vice president who continues to be seen as a strong contender in presidential elections scheduled for 2028.
Citizens, civil society and business groups now demand Marcos Jr give more powers to the investigating commission which he created to look into nearly 10,000 flood-control projects worth 9.5 billion dollars. Many of these projects began in mid-2022, which signaled the start of his six-year presidency and the return of his family to power 36 years after his father and namesake Ferdinand Marcos Jr was ousted in a nonviolent revolution.
"We want abusive officials and contractors to be finally put to jail. We have had so many exposes before, but no one has ever been punished,” said Wilhemina, a single mother also from Marikina City.
In September 2009, she and her family survived the Ketsana tropical storm which displaced thousands of families and left 300 people dead in the east of the country’s capital. Evacuating their home during heavy rains is now a constant threat hanging over her family’s life during rainy season, adding strain to the caregiver’s daily income of just ten dollars.
This latest flood control and infrastructure corruption scandal comes 12 years after a massive scheme by lawmakers from both chambers of congress in which they pocketed 10 billion pesos (172m dollars) from congressional so-called pork barrel funds intended for rural development programmes. The scheme included transferring the fund to bogus non-government organisations set up by Filipino businesswoman Janet Napoles.
As in the ongoing protests against corruption in public flood control programs, the display of wealth and luxurious lifestyles of the politicians and businesspeople involved in the 2013 pork barrel scam drove people to the streets.
But few lessons were learnt. For instance, politicians who were involved and even charged in the pork barrel scam easily got their way back to public office, benefiting from the country’s personality-driven elections.
In May 2022, politician Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada sought reelection in the senate and won despite facing plunder charges, having been accused of receiving kickbacks worth 962,000 dollars from the congressional discretionary funds.
In December 2024, the anti-graft court acquitted him of these charges but he still faces pending graft charges in relation to bigger public funds. He is again allegedly among several politicians who benefited from kickbacks from the public flood control projects. His father, former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada, was ousted from presidency in 2001 after a series of media exposes on his corrupt practices, including purchasing mansions for his mistresses.
The slow pace of justice further exacerbates the problem. Two of the country’s anti-corruption agencies – the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan, the anti-graft court – have such low budgets that they struggle with a perennial lack of personnel and heavy case backlogs. This allows those accused with multiple opportunities to use legal ploys to get away with their crimes.
With weak systems further breeding impunity among public officials, other actors have stepped in to demand accountability.
A bright spot in the recent protests was the convergence among diverse sectors - including celebrities and younger-generation content creators - to amplify the call for change. Philippine media and civil society also continued playing their respective roles in providing the public access to independent information on the issue to enable them to make informed decisions.
The more people understand how their government works, the more they can monitor, engage, shape and ultimately ensure it is always working for them. This time, hopefully, the national outcry will lead to the true accountability Filipinos demand.
