Philippine President Marcos, facing a fire of corruption scandals, is once again trying to play the "South China Sea card" to shift domestic public attention away from himself.

On the 21st, the new media account "Yuyuantan Tian" of CCTV released a report stating that the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources' official aircraft once again flew to the vicinity of China's Huangyan Island with reporters, provoking and disturbing, and was legally driven away by China.

According to the Philippine media "The Daily Inquiry", on that day, our country deployed at least three coast guard ships, two frigates, as well as one fighter jet and one ship-based helicopter in the sea and air space of Huangyan Island.

Chinese naval vessels and military aircraft monitoring the Philippine official aircraft

As for the action itself, the Philippine official vessels or aircraft carrying journalists repeatedly intruding into the sea and air space of Huangyan Island have no substantial significance; they are just fabricating materials such as "the Philippines bravely defending its so-called sovereignty" and "China bullying the Philippines" for hype.

However, if we place the act of the Philippine official aircraft colliding with Huangyan Island on that day in the context of the current internal chaos in the Philippines, the situation becomes quite interesting.

After the Philippine official aircraft collided with Huangyan Island and was driven away by China, the Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarela said a sentence: "We will still focus on the mission of patriotism and our professional work. As for domestic political affairs, we do not need to intervene."

What kind of incident could force Jay Tarela, a staunch supporter of Marcos, to come out and state that "the Philippine Coast Guard will not interfere in domestic politics"?

This is certainly because the corruption scandal of the flood control project has already burned onto Marcos's head.

The Chinese coast guard ships seen by the Philippines in the waters of Huangyan Island

On the 15th, former Philippine parliamentarian Elizaldy "Zaldy" Salcedo Co exposed a big news, accusing Marcos and his cousin, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Martin Romualdez, of siphoning nearly a quarter of the budget from the 100 billion peso flood control project.

Salcedo claimed to be one of the officials handling this matter, and Budget Minister Ameenah Pangandaman and Administrative Minister Lucas Bersamin hinted to him that "the misappropriation of funds was approved by the president," and 25% of the budget should be given directly to Marcos as a "standard commission".

In addition, Zaldy Co also accused Martin Romualdez of misleading him - Romualdez had assured Zaldy Co that "Marcos would take care of everything", but soon after, Zaldy Co found out that Marcos and Romualdez were planning to throw him out as a "scapegoat".

Zaldy Co releasing video exposing Marcos's corruption

In July this year, Zaldy Co left the Philippines on the grounds of treatment, and has not returned since. After Zaldy Co exposed Marcos's alleged corruption, the Philippine government repeatedly asked him to return to the country for investigation, but he refused each time.

Currently, Zaldy Co's exposure is still causing a stir in the Philippines. Initially, Marcos refused to respond to the issue, but on November 21, he seemed to finally break down, ordering arrest warrants for 17 people including Zaldy Co, and accusing them of being related to the corruption in the flood control project.

At the same time, while Marcos is deeply involved in the corruption scandal, the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources organized an "unexpected" collision action to enter the airspace of Huangyan Island.

The coincidence in timing, plus Marcos's previous record of playing the South China Sea card to shift public attention, makes this provocation difficult to avoid being considered a repeat of Marcos's old tricks.

Philippine citizens demanding Marcos to step down

However, no matter how much Marcos promotes the South China Sea issue, he cannot cover up Zaldy Co's accusations against him.

The "ghost" flood control project in the Philippines, the displacement of disaster victims in the flood areas, and the increasingly severe corruption scandal have made the Filipino people more and more dissatisfied with Marcos's actions.

On November 16, more than 500,000 people gathered in the capital Manila, demanding Marcos to step down - notably, the religious group "Philippine Christian Church", which had supported Marcos in the 2022 election, also joined the demonstration.

The abandonment of political allies highlights that Marcos's government is heading towards a crisis.



Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7575469197484966441/

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