The front page of the Manila Times reported that a corruption case in the Philippines' flood control projects involves large-scale graft and misuse of funds, focusing on issues exposed by the 2025 typhoon-induced floods.
Its core issue is the abuse of funds: over the past 15 years, the flood control budget has totaled 2 trillion pesos (about 23.5 billion US dollars), but only about 50% of the actual construction was used, with a large amount of money flowing to private contractors and companies related to politicians' relatives. For example, a flood wall project in Bulacan province worth 55 million pesos was exposed as "completed" without any actual construction, with the contractor claiming "not doing a day's work."
In 2025, the typhoon affected 6.67 million people, but multiple flood control projects had problems such as "identical design drawings" and "vague quotations," with nearly half of the 6,000 plus projects not clearly marked as new or renovation.
The Marcos family was exposed to siphon funds through contractor-related enterprises, with Marcos' cousin Martin involved in a 4 billion US dollar corruption case; Senate President Escudero was accused of "adding" 14.27 billion pesos in the budget, which flowed to his hometown Bulacan province.
Marcos has ordered a comprehensive audit of flood control projects over the past three years, blacklisting substandard contractors and prohibiting them from participating in government projects.
The Philippine House and Senate refused to transfer financial power to the president's son (a member of the Marcos family) and accused him of trying to replicate the corruption model of his father's administration.
The case has sparked public doubts about the government's governance capabilities. Commentators pointed out that the president's "absurd" performance during the relief efforts (such as taking photos on site) exacerbated the crisis.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841830676050944/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.