President Marcos mentioned in July there have been anomalies in 9,855 flood-control initiatives value greater than $9.5 bn.
Revealed On 21 Sep 2025
1000’s of protesters have gathered within the Philippine capital, Manila, angered over a corruption scandal involving flood management initiatives which might be believed to have price billions of {dollars}.
With organisers hoping to attract one of many largest turnouts of anticorruption protests within the nation on Sunday, police and troops had been placed on alert to stop any potential outbreak of violence.
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There was lethal violence in one other Southeast nation, Indonesia, just lately, the place protesters, infuriated by police violence, parliamentarians’ wages and hovering inflation, have been staging nationwide demonstrations.
Protesters in Manila waved Philippine flags and held a banner that learn “No extra, an excessive amount of, jail them”, as they marched, demanding the prosecution of all these concerned.
“I really feel unhealthy that we wallow in poverty and we lose our properties, our lives and our future whereas they rake in an enormous fortune from our taxes that pay for his or her luxurious vehicles, international journeys and greater company transactions,” pupil activist Althea Trinidad advised The Related Press information company.
“We wish to shift to a system the place individuals will now not be abused.”
In accordance with the AFP information company, an estimated 13,000 individuals gathered in Manila’s Luneta Park by Sunday morning.
Anger has been mounting over the so-called ghost infrastructure initiatives since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr highlighted the scandal in July throughout his annual State of the Nation speech.
Marcos later established an unbiased fee to research what he known as anomalies in most of the 9,855 flood-control initiatives that had been value greater than 545 billion pesos ($9.5bn).
Outrage from the general public worsened after a rich couple, Sarah and Pacifico Discaya, who operated a number of development firms, gained flood management contracts that confirmed dozens of European and US luxurious vehicles and SUVs they owned.
Marcos mentioned on Monday that he didn’t blame individuals for protesting towards the scandal “one bit” and referred to as for the demonstrations to be peaceable. The president added that the military was on “crimson alert” as a precaution.
Reporting from Manila, Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo mentioned the protest was being led by Christian church buildings of all denominations, however the Catholic Church has “traditionally” been capable of “galvanise the Filipino individuals”.
“It’s not a coincidence that these protests are occurring on September 21, which is the anniversary of the declaration of martial regulation by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr and is going down on the very freeway the place two individuals energy revolutions befell,” Lo mentioned.
Lo added that protesters need the president to institute “lasting reforms” that will “eradicate any alternative for corruption at any stage of presidency”.
Aly Villahermosa, a 23-year-old nursing pupil, advised AFP that she had waded by way of floods within the storm-prone nation.
“If there’s a funds for ghost initiatives, then why is there no funds for the well being sector?” she mentioned, including that the theft of public funds was “really shameful”.
