The World Bank did a harsh reality check on the Marcos Jr. administration that revealed the Philippines will likely miss its 2028 poverty reduction target and remain far from the prosperous middle-class society envisioned by 2040.

While the Washington-based lender cited low incomes, weak job prospects, and climate vulnerability as structural flaws, its clinical analysis omitted the festering wound that makes these issues fatal: massive, systemic corruption.

The “twin challenges” of poverty and a weak middle class cannot be solved when the political class treats the national treasury as its personal ATM.

The World Bank’s numbers are sobering enough. Poverty is projected to only fall to 12.3 percent by 2028 — far short of the 9-percent target — while 28 percent of Filipinos remain vulnerable to falling back into destitution.

Yet, these statistics exist in a vacuum if one ignores the hemorrhage in public funds. In just the last two years, the country has been rocked by allegations of a “trillion-peso flood control scandal,” alongside revelations of overpriced or ghost projects.

The result is a fiscal abyss: the national debt has ballooned to nearly P18 trillion, and debt servicing now consumes a larger chunk of the budget than education.

The crux of the problem lies in the legislature, where corruption is not an aberration but a system. The 2026 national budget is packed with P319 billion in “questionable” funds — last-minute insertions and lump sums that budget watchdogs warn mark the return of the pork barrel.

Lawmakers engage in “budget machinations,” inserting “allocables” into the Department of Public Works and Highways budget that serves as “a well-oiled machinery for kickbacks, overpricing, and ghost projects.” The allocables are not mere line items — they are bribes dressed as infrastructure, designed to secure loyalty and pad pockets.

This kleptocracy in government directly explains the World Bank’s findings. How can the government generate “quality jobs” or build resilient infrastructure when funds for farm-to-market roads are either jacked up by 70 percent or simply nonexistent? 

The World Bank notes that workers without a secondary education rarely find formal jobs. This reality persists because corruption diverts investment away from human capital and to political dynasties.

Furthermore, this environment persists due to the administration’s seeming inability — or unwillingness — to stop it.

While President Marcos Jr. claims to fight corruption, a Pulse Asia survey found that his “alleged failure” to do so is the top reason for the public’s distrust.

Lawmakers and watchdogs have had to plead with the President to veto pork barrel items, highlighting a passive executive branch that reacts to scandals rather than prevents them.

Ultimately, the World Bank’s technocratic solutions will fail because the water is leaking faster than it can be poured. Corruption is the reason the majority of Filipinos remain poor. 

As long as legislators can rob the nation with impunity through budget insertions, and as long as the Palace tolerates this “purchase of loyalty,” the Philippines will never achieve “Ambisyon Natin 2040.”

You cannot build a secure middle class on a foundation of stolen public funds.