Focus on corruption, not drama — expert

The public must stay vigilant and trust in the legal process amid the recent political controversies, a leading political scientist said yesterday.

Speaking on DAILY TRIBUNE’s Usapang OFW program, Professor Dennis Coronacion, chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Santo Tomas, weighed in on Senator Imee Marcos’ explosive remarks against her brother, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., last Monday during the Iglesia ni Cristo’s “Rally for Transparency and Peace.”

Coronacion said the senator’s statements seemed intended more to fuel public outrage than to support genuine accountability.

“The public gains nothing from these allegations about illegal substance use involving the President, the First Lady, and other close aides,” Coronacion said. “It mostly serves one political camp — the Duterte supporters. If Imee were truly concerned as a sibling, she would have sought rehab for him long before he ran for office.”

Coronacion stressed the real challenge is the systemic corruption, which persisted across administrations.

“It’s a matter of degree — Edsa 1, Edsa 2, and now. Corruption was pervasive under Marcos Sr., and it continues under Marcos Jr.,” he said in Filipino.

He also weighed in on the resignations of Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, calling them acts of “delicadeza” after their names surfaced in Senate hearings on alleged kickbacks in flood control projects.

Coronacion noted that this trend of resignations extended to other political allies of the President, including former Senate President Chiz Escudero, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and former Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan, signaling a thinning circle of Marcos supporters.

Despite the growing list of senators implicated in the flood project anomalies — Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla — Coronacion pointed out the relative lack of scrutiny on the House of Representatives, suggesting that the issue was tied to systemic budgetary corruption rather than individual visibility.

On the infrastructure projects, Coronacion acknowledged DPWH engineer Brice Hernandez’s claim of substandard work, noting that the corruption could just be “the tip of the iceberg,” with other agencies yet to be fully investigated.

“Political grandstanding distracts the public from structural reforms that take time,” Coronacion said. “We need transparency, yes, but also patience and reliance on the proper legal processes.”