Stung by the defeat of his candidates in the midterm elections and enraged by the loss of P1.14 trillion to corruption in anomalous flood control projects, President Bongbong Marcos, in his State of the Nation Address, declared war against this pernicious evil on two fronts of the government.

“For the 2026 national budget, I will return any proposed General Appropriation Bill that is not fully aligned with the National Expenditure Program.” (applause and cheers)

This statement is with reference to what usually happens when the bill is not aligned with the National Expenditure Program. That provides an opportunity for the bicameral conference committee to do their illegal insertions in the final version of the budget.

This statement by President Marcos may be considered the first-ever open declaration by a sitting president of the Republic of the Philippines against the illegal insertions by the “Scourge of Philippine Society,” the bicameral conference committee of both houses of Congress.

“And further, I am willing to do this even if we end up with a reenacted budget.” (applause)

“I will not approve whatever budget that is not in accord with the plan of the government for the Filipino people.” (applause)

“I bear with me the lessons that I learned from you for three years. These serve as my inspiration, that energize me to serve you well. I have known what you like, and those that you don’t. They serve as my guide serving you and the rest of our people.” (applause and cheers)

PBBM was enraged by what he saw when he went around after the storms.

“When I went around to see the aftermath after storms Crising, Dante and Emong, I saw the many flood control projects that were total failures, and the rest that were found to be merely ghosts.

“Shame on you. You should be ashamed before your countrymen who drowned or were lost.

“You should be ashamed before our children who will inherit the debts we incurred for the funds we borrowed, but which you stole.” (applause and cheers)

(Crowd: BBM! BBM! BBM! BBM! BBM!)

“So that this will never be repeated. First, the DPWH will immediately submit the list of all flood control projects in every region that were started or completed in the last three years.” (applause and cheers)

“Second, the Regional Project Monitoring Committee shall examine the list of projects and give a report on those that have been failures, those that were not finished, and those that were ghost projects” (applause and cheers)

“And third, we will publish the list.” (applause and cheers)

“The public who see these projects can freely examine the list and help in the investigation.” (applause and cheers).

“There will be an audit and performance review so that we will know how the money was spent.” (applause and cheers)

“The following month, all those responsible for this great loss will be investigated to find out their culpability, including those who conspired with them throughout the entire country.” (applause and cheers)

“The public must know the truth. Somebody must be held answerable for the damage done to the government,” said the President. (applause and cheers)