The subzero survey rating for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. stems from Filipinos’ perception that, despite the widespread government irregularities, no official is behind bars.

It is not about who initiated the disclosure of the massive flood control project scandal; what the public seeks is follow-through to demonstrate Marcos’ sincerity, starting with his coming clean about the allegations of his involvement with the cabal of thieves.

A leader of the Trillion Peso March movement said the evidence of corruption is everywhere in government and it cannot simply be erased by burning a Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) building or by pressuring or killing a potential whistleblower.

Justice has stopped with the small fry while the big fish remain in the ocean, according to Reverend Father Wilmer Tria, vice president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) and secretary general of the Church Leaders Council for National Transformation. He noted that those who don’t contribute to elections or to vote totals are thus far the only ones in jail.

They are the ones who pay. Thus far, P200 million has been surrendered by those implicated in the “Floodgate” racket, which Tria said is barely a drop in the bucket compared to the total amount stolen.

The real architects, who enjoy the power of the purse, both in the executive branch — which planned and proposed the flood control projects — and in the legislative branch, all remain scot-free.

Credibility is greatly lacking because the government itself is conducting the investigation into the big fish within it.

“Who appoints the DoJ head? Who appoints the Supreme Court justices? So I’m sure these people will just impose slaps on the wrist, just for show, to satisfy us,” the protest organizer indicated.

Tria posed a perplexing query: “What if the money is returned and no one goes to jail? Those things are connected. How can the money be returned if we don’t know who is returning it?”

Those in the Witness Protection Program, of course, are handled by the government.

“Their testimony then gets edited. Whatever is dictated to them — that’s all they’ll say. That’s the complexity of our problem,” he bewailed.

Thus, Tria said, the varied characters involved in the lucrative racket make it hard to separate the chaff from the wheat.

“There have been those who approached the Trillion Peso March leaders, but I can’t reveal names. I know their versions are edited because they’re under the control of their handlers,” he explained.

Many want support to spread what the government tells them.

First, what they tell me is their desire for trust to be restored — to them and to the institutions. That’s why they’re willing to cooperate, return the funds and tell the truth.

But the problem is, as long as they’re in the Witness Protection Program and beside the DoJ, they’ll only say limited things, Tria lamented.

To tell the truth, the risk is enormous because once the witnesses do that, it will take time for their lives to return to normal.

That’s why they’re ambivalent; they struggle to decide when to tell the truth fully.

The stone-cold truth is that corrupt government officials will resort to any means to hide the grim picture from the public.