FILE - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. center, tosses the ceremonial ball during the opening of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Pasay, Philippines on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)
FILE - Hundreds of students at the University of the Philippines walk out of their classes and protest against corruption in government projects in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Sept.12, 2025. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan, File)
Protesters hold a rally at the People Power Monument in Manila Saturday morning, Sept. 13, 2025, over allegations of massive corruption in flood control projects that have implicated several congressmen and public works officials and sparked pockets of street protests. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Protestors hold placards, one of them reads “Lock up the thieves and return the money the people鈥檚 money.” as they hold a rally at the People Power Monument in Manila Saturday morning, Sept. 13, 2025, over allegations of massive corruption in flood control projects that have implicated several congressmen and public works officials and sparked pockets of street protests. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Philippine president supports public outrage over corruption but says protests should be peaceful
MANILA, Philippines (AP) 鈥 The Philippine president on Monday encouraged the public to express their outrage over massive corruption that has plagued flood-control projects in one of Asia鈥檚 most typhoon-prone countries but said street protests should be peaceful.
FILE - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. center, tosses the ceremonial ball during the opening of the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship in Pasay, Philippines on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) 鈥 The Philippine president on Monday encouraged the public to express their outrage over massive corruption that has plagued flood-control projects in one of Asia鈥檚 most typhoon-prone countries but said street protests should be peaceful.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed that an investigation by an independent commission would not spare even his allies in the House of Representatives and the Senate, where have been identified and accused in televised congressional hearings of pocketing huge kickbacks, along with government engineers and construction companies. Marcos first spoke about the corruption scandal in July in his annual state of the nation speech.
Unlike recent violent protests in and , street rallies against alleged abuses in the Philippines have been smaller and relatively peaceful. Outrage has largely been vented online, including by Catholic church leaders, business executives and retired generals.
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A planned protest on Sept. 21 in a pro-democracy shrine in the Manila metropolis near guarded upscale neighborhoods, where some of the corruption suspects live in affluence, is expected to draw a larger crowd. Police forces and troops have been placed on alert.
鈥淚f I wasn鈥檛 president, I might be out in the streets with them,鈥 Marcos said of anti-corruption protesters.
鈥淥f course they are enraged, of course they are angry, I鈥檓 angry,” Marcos added, calling on the protesters to demand accountability. 鈥淵ou let them know your sentiments, you let them know how they hurt you, how they stole from you, shout at them and do everything, demonstrate, just keep it peaceful.鈥
But Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said over the weekend that 鈥減eople who have ill intentions and want to destabilize the government” should not exploit the public’s outrage.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. and military chief of staff Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. issued a joint statement late Friday rejecting a call for the country鈥檚 armed forces to withdraw support from Marcos in response to public outrage over the corruption scandal. They did not elaborate, but underscored that the 160,000-member military was non-partisan, professional and 鈥渁bides by the constitution through the chain-of-command.鈥
During a recent rally, a speaker called on the military to end its loyalty to Marcos and called on Filipinos to stage a non-violent 鈥減eople power鈥 revolt similar to army-backed uprisings that ousted Ferdinand Marcos, the current president鈥檚 late father and namesake, in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2001.
The House of Representatives and the Senate have been investigating alleged substandard and non-existent flood-control projects in separate televised inquiries. Dozens of legislators, senators, construction companies and public works engineers have been identified and accused of pocketing huge kickbacks that financed lavish lifestyles with mansions, European luxury cars and high-stakes casino gambling in a country still wracked by poverty.
The Philippines has spent an estimated 545 billion pesos ($9.6 billion) for thousands of flood mitigation projects in the last three years alone. The projects were under government review to determine which ones are substandard or non-existent, as Marcos said he found during recent inspections in some flood-prone areas, including in Bulacan, a densely populated province north of Manila.
