Ever since Senate hearings have revealed billions of pesos wasted in anomalous flood control projects the people have been very angry. Rightfully so, of course, because that is the people's money being not just wasted but stolen by the very men they elected to high office. As a result the people have taken to the street in protest. They want immediate action.
However, the Marcos administration is telling the people to sit down and shut up.
 |
| https://mb.com.ph/2025/10/14/palace-tells-filipinos-to-calm-down-over-fight-vs-corruption |
Malacañang has appealed to the people to calm down amid growing public demand for accountability over issues of graft and corruption.
"Calm down," Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said on Tuesday, Oct. 14, assuring the public that investigations on corruption are ongoing and that cases will be filed soon.
Castro stressed that the fight against corruption, particularly the alleged multi-billion pesos flood control corruption mess, takes time.
"This cannot be done hastily. Perhaps because, as a lawyer who personally handles cases and appears in court myself, I know how to present a piece of evidence properly," Castro said.
"This cannot be done through haste, and if it is done too quickly, we might end up with impressive numbers, many cases filed in court, but eventually, all of them get dismissed," Castro added.
"What would be more unacceptable, filing cases that all end up being dismissed because they were premature and lacked evidence?," Castro further said.
Based on a recent Tugon ng Masa survey conducted from Sept. 25 to 30, 60 percent of respondents feel outrage or anger when they think about corruption in government, particularly in the flood control projects. Thirty percent expressed fear or anxiety and 9 percent said they are disappointed or sad.
She called on the people to allow the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) to conduct its investigation and complete its documentation in order to file stronger cases.
The Palace official also urged the public to be patient "because the process has already begun."
"As we’ve said, if the President hadn’t initiated this, who would have? If the President himself did not start this investigation, then who else could?," Castro said.
She assured the public that President Marcos' commitment is to hold accountable those who must be held accountable, stressing that this was perhaps "the fastest disclosure of the alleged anomalies in flood control projects."
The latest Ulat ng Bayan survey by Pulse Asia Research showed that the Marcos administration suffered a decline in approval ratings on most key national issues from June to September 2025, with corruption and inflation emerging as the public’s top concerns.
Castro said the President is not alarmed by the numbers, reiterating that rating should not be based on one survey alone.
The survey, however, revealed that most adults are critical of the administration’s handling of four issues—reducing poverty (57 percent), fighting illegal drugs (61 percent), controlling inflation (64 percent), and fighting corruption (69 percent).
Castro made an assurance that Marcos knows and listens to the public's sentiments, urging them to trust the President.
"Let us allow the process to continue, and the President will not ignore the sentiments he hears from our fellow citizens," Castro said.
"Let us place our trust in our President and in the Marcos Jr. administration, because it is firmly taking a stand against corruption," she added.
Obviously the process cannot be done hastily. Immediate accountability would mean resignations at the very least while long term justice means air tight cases against the accused must be built. Of course, all of the accused have denied any culpability. That leaves waiting on the Philippine justice system and everyone knows justice does not roll down like waters in this nation. Despite all the investigation and cases filed during the PDAF scam no politicians were held accountable. The people's anger is more than justified because they know the track record of the DOJ in these types of cases.
Note also that Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro says Marcos initiated the investigation and no one else would have started it. This is a dishonest sleight of hand which repositions accountability as a gift from leadership, not a right of the people. The fact is the corruption in the DPWH has been ongoing for decades. Here is an article I wrote about it back in 2019 with data about corruption in the DPWH going back to 1999. The fact that a speech from Marcos triggered an investigation is outrageous when accountability should have been ongoing. That is the whole point of the Commission on Audit and other bodies tasked with monitoring the use of funds and the building of projects.
The newly-formed Independent Commission for Infrastructure is also telling the people to sit down and shut up because protesting "won't help heal the country."
 |
| https://mb.com.ph/2025/10/13/protests-rallies-wont-help-heal-the-countryici-adviser |
Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) new special adviser Rodolfo Azurin does not believe that protests or rallies will help build a better Philippines even even as the country is being hounded by corruption in the form of anomalous, billion-peso flood control projects.
Azurin, in his inaugural statement after being sworn in to the position on Monday, Oct. 13, stressed the importance of a pacifist approach in handling what some people said was the biggest corruption scandal to hit the country.
The discovery of the billions worth of anomalous flood control projects "is a defining moment in our nation's history", according to Azurin.
But while "the voices from all sectors" on the controvery were "valid" and their cause was "just", he said, "We must remember: real change cannot be achieved through division, chaos or violence."
He added that while "revolution in the streets may topple governments... they do not always heal a nation".
"Today, we are called not to fight one another, but to stand together. Not through protests or rallies, but through truth, unity and justice," he said in a subsequent press conference.
Azurin, who replaced Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong as special adviser, said the creation of the ICI marked "a historic step toward accountability and genuine reform".
The body has been tasked to investigate the anomalous infrastructure projects that should have served the people.
He further said President Marcos' directive to assist the body in prosecuting involved individuals was "a clear testament to the sincerity and determination of this administration to build a better Philippines".
"Let us expose corruption not with anger, but with justice. Let us work hand in hand to bring the guilty to account and to finally end the suffering of our people," he said.
This is totally wrong-headed. Does Azurin really expect the people to sit down and take being robbed and placed in danger of being flooded out in peace and silence? No. The people not only have the right to be angry but the duty to be angry. As Howard Beale says in the movie Network:
I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.
We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be!
We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.
It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."
Well, I'm not going to leave you alone.
I want you to get mad!
I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.
All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.
You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, goddammit! My life has value!"
So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"
Filipinos need to be mad. They need to shout at the people taking them for a ride. The system is much more corrupt than billions of pesos being stolen for anomalous DPWH projects. Everyone knows that the DPWH has been doing this for years and nobody did a thing. Everyone also knows every sector of the Philippine government is rotten to the core. All one has to do is read the news to see the weekly instances of current and former politicians being convicted or charged for corruption.
The sad truth is that corruption courses through the blood of every single Filipino politician. There are no good ones. They are rotten because they work in a rotten system and the stink necessarily rubs off on them. Sadly Azurin and the Palace are right to tell people that protesting is pointless. What is needed is a complete political overhaul. What is needed is for the people to shout, "No More Hell Run By Filipinos!"
No comments:
Post a Comment