An alliance of 30 influential Philippine business and civic organizations has called for an independent investigation into what it described as the “shameful” corruption linked to government infrastructure projects, particularly flood control systems.
In a statement yesterday, the alliance, which includes some of the country’s most prominent companies and business associations, expressed “outrage, disgust, and disappointment” over what they described as “shameful, unabated, continuing, and excessive acts of graft and corruption” by many officials in Congress, the Department of Public Works and Highways, and local government units. It described this corruption as a “crime against our people, specially [sic] those who continue to live in dire poverty.”
Among those that signed the collective statement were the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Management Association of the Philippines, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, and the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. The signees also included a number of prominent civil society groups.
The call for action follows revelations about far-reaching corruption linked to flood-control projects. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. mentioned the issue during his State of the Nation speech in late July, blaming corruption for the severe flooding that submerged several parts of the country earlier that month. During the speech, he claimed that many flood control projects were faulty or simply didn’t exist, and promised to thoroughly investigate the issue.
The extent of the corruption was confirmed during a subsequent internal audit, which found that out of 545 billion pesos ($9.63 billion) in flood control spending since 2022, “thousands of projects were either substandard, poorly documented, or non-existent,” as Reuters reported. The issue has since become the subject of special investigations in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and has become the subject of increasing public criticism.
Earlier this week, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto told a Senate committee that the Philippine economy may have lost between 42.3 billion ($741 million) and 118.5 billion pesos ($2.07 billion) in the last two years due to corruption in flood control projects.
In the statement, the alliance of business groups urged the Marcos administration to punish those responsible, including with prison terms, and to recover the stolen funds.
“While we take note of the President admonishing the corrupt in government, we are concerned that the guilty among these officials will continue their merry way of robbing the people and filling their pockets, completely oblivious to the fact that they are betraying the public trust, committing a treasonous act against our people, and simply being unpatriotic and sinful,” it said. It added that justice “can only be achieved by successfully punishing the corrupt.”
The flood control scandal hints at the depth of the corruption that is a major asterisk – perhaps the largest one – of the Philippines’ claim to be a functional representative democracy. Concerns over corruption and yawning economic inequalities are also among the key issues that have ignited nationwide protests in Indonesia over the past two weeks. The unrest, which began with demonstrations against a new package of benefits for lawmakers, but flared into violent riots after a 21-year-old motorcycle ride-share driver was run over and killed by a police vehicle close to the site of a protest in Jakarta on the evening of August 28. The ensuing violence claimed at least another 10 lives, as protesters ransacked politicians’ homes and set fire to several regional legislative buildings.
Yesterday, representatives from student groups met two senior ministers to present their grievances about the state of the country, including the creeping influence of the Indonesian military in the civil administration.
So far, the anger against corruption in the Philippines has remained confined to social media, Reuters reported yesterday that “some activist groups have begun mobilizing on the ground, and others are calling on the public to take to the streets.” One of these was the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, which staged a protest yesterday outside a construction firm owned by the Discaya family, who are accused of involvement in faulty flood prevention projects.
When asked about the possibility of large-scale protests in the Philippines, Claire Castro, a spokesperson for the presidential palace, said that President Marcos wished for the public to remain calm. “The President is also directing our concerned government agencies and law enforcement not to allow this to happen,” she said.