Marcos draws line on corruption

Halfway through his term, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pushed back against talk that his exposé on flood control anomalies was politically motivated.

“Why would I even start such a thing if it was somehow for political advantage?” he said in the fifth episode of his podcast.

Marcos admitted the issue has touched some of his allies but said his goal was to stop a system that had gone too far.

“The reason I brought it up and made it part of the national discourse was quite simply because this could not go on,” he said. “Suddenly you discover how deeply entrenched this entire system is.”

He said corruption in government was nothing new, “but not this scale.”

“That was the shocking part. Nothing will happen to the Philippines if we carry on this way. The economy will never grow properly. People are not going to get helped. The schools will not get better. The hospitals will not get better,” he said.

Marcos said he refuses to accept the mindset that “nothing can be done” within a six-year term.

“I didn’t want to be another one,” he said. “I didn’t want to be a part of that kind of attitude, especially in terms of public service.”

‘Resignation not enough’

For officials linked to corruption who have quietly left their posts, Marcos said walking away isn’t accountability.

“There is a great deal of damage that has been caused — not only financial or economic damage, but damage to people’s lives,” he said. “A lousy flood control project that collapsed during the flood that killed a family. How can you live with that? I can’t live with it. So, we’ll keep pushing.”

He said those who resigned will still be held accountable once investigations prove their involvement.

‘We’re not abandoning infrastructure’

Marcos clarified that realigning p255.5 billion from flood control projects doesn’t mean scrapping the infrastructure altogether.

“It does not mean that we have given up completely on infrastructure because we cannot. If we stop that, we will stop the economy,” he said.

He said the funds would be reallocated to social services: p26 billion to education, p29 billion to health, p60 billion to PhilHealth, and p39 billion to agriculture.

Calling for discipline in government projects, Marcos urged local officials to verify their completion before signing off on them.