Thousands of Filipino protesters took to the streets of Manila on Sunday, November 30, to demand justice in a billion-dollar flood control graft case, which has seen only 18 prosecutions after two years of investigation.
Rallying along the EDSA highway for the second part of the “Trillion Peso March Movement,” protesters led by civic and religious groups chanted, “Ikulong lahat mga kurakot!” (Jail all corrupt people!)
Their demands: a transparent investigation, and jail time for the “big fishes” who masterminded the corruption scandal that saw the delays of numerous flood control projects in a country that experiences an average of 20 tropical cyclones per year.
Make investigations transparent
Speaking during the afternoon protest programme, Catholic Bishops’ Conference President Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David urged the government to open the corruption probes to the public.
“You have already started this fight against corruption, now prove that you will carry it through by conducting a truly transparent investigation by the ICI that will genuinely go after the corrupt, leaving no one untouchable.”
Currently, the Philippine government, under the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, only holds closed-door investigations of the flood control anomaly through the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI).
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Hold public officials accountable
“It’s impossible that the corruption happened without the knowledge of the higher officials,” Mervin Toquero, programme secretary at the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, told AFP.
“[They] must be accountable, too,” Tuquero added.
In a tell-all video, former lawmaker Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co alleged that President Marcos and his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, are among the masterminds behind the alleged anomalous budget insertions during the 2024 bicameral process.
Some of these insertions were officially recorded as flood control infrastructure projects in the final budget.
Co, the man in the centre of the billion-dollar corruption scandal, alleged that large sums of money were delivered in suitcases to Marcos and Romualdez in the aftermath of these budget insertions.
He also insisted that he received no money from these transactions.
However, local media reports and public officials pointed out inconsistencies in his statement, such as the vague timeline of events and the lack of specification as to where the alleged transactions took place.
He also failed to acknowledge his connections to the personalities he revealed were involved in these alleged cash deliveries.
These connections were already established in prior Senate hearings, pointing to Co’s financial involvement in the “ghost” flood control projects.
Co is among the 18 suspects named in the flood control corruption scandal.
He is currently on the Interpol blue notice, as the government vowed an international “manhunt” to bring him back to the Philippines.
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