The largest protest movement since President Marcos took office has erupted in the Philippines.

According to Philippine media, including "The Daily Inquirer" and "Philippine Star," on the 21st, large-scale demonstrations broke out in more than 20 cities across the capital Manila. Various civil groups, flood victims, student movements, and political and religious organizations took to the streets to protest systemic corruption in the Philippines' flood control projects.

Philippine media live-streaming the protest march

"The Daily Inquirer" estimated that tens of thousands of people may have participated in this demonstration. The National Police Commission has deployed police forces in multiple areas, with over 3,000 officers in the Calabarzon region "maintaining order."

As for the Philippine military, it had already declared the highest level of "red alert" on September 12, with all troops canceling their leave and remaining on standby.

So what exactly happened in the Philippines?

As mentioned above, the trigger for this large-scale protest was the systemic corruption in the Philippines' flood control projects.

The Philippines is located along the "typhoon corridor." Since July this year, continuous typhoons and monsoon rains have caused severe floods in the Philippines, affecting millions of people, displacing over 300,000, and destroying many houses, farmlands, and infrastructure.

Flood control projects are built every year, but flood levels keep rising in the Philippines

It was only after the floods reached their homes that the Filipinos realized that the government's promised flood control projects were not actually completed: the government spent a lot of budget each year, but the water levels kept rising.

At first, Marcos refused to admit any corruption in the flood control projects, even claiming that the floods were a "new normal" and that Filipinos should "change their mindset" and learn to "coexist" with flooding disasters.

However, as the flood waters rose higher and more corruption scandals in the flood control projects were exposed, Marcos finally promised to thoroughly investigate the corruption, stating that even if the corrupt individuals were his relatives, they would be held accountable.

But how could Marcos's "thorough investigation" be interpreted?

So far, the Marcos government has indeed disclosed several cases of collusion between politicians and contractors in the flood control projects, including high-ranking officials such as Marcos's cousin and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Martin Romualdez, who also resigned. However, so far, no high-ranking official has been punished or legally sanctioned—meaning these corrupt officials left without consequences after making money.

Marcos: Filipinos should learn to coexist with disasters

Even more bizarrely, after Martin Romualdez resigned and fled, the new speaker elected by the Philippine House of Representatives, Fortino Li, is still an ally of Marcos—this means that Marcos's "anti-corruption action" ended up changing nothing at all.

Since Marcos stopped pretending, the Filipino people finally had enough, and on September 21, they launched a large-scale protest march.

Notably, September 21 is also the day when Marcos's father, the notorious dictator and corrupt president Ferdinand Marcos, declared a national state of emergency. After Ferdinand Marcos was ousted, September 21 became a day of remembrance for the victims of his authoritarian rule and a day of reflection and warning about historical lessons in the Philippines.

Marcos did nothing except pose for photos at the flood scene

Therefore, the large-scale demonstration on this day was not only a protest against the systemic corruption of the Marcos government but also a manifestation of dissatisfaction with the Marcos family.

However, an unavoidable reality is that the people's discontent and protests cannot change the current situation of corruption among government officials.

This is not the first time the Philippines has seen mass protests due to corruption scandals. In 2013, 2014, and even 2001, there were large-scale protests against government officials' corruption. Yet, in 2022, the son of the Philippines' top corrupt official was elected president, and then the flood control project corruption scandal emerged.

Given this, it's almost a joke that the Filipino people still believe Marcos can eradicate corruption.



Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7552385114299302441/

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