Christmas promises remain empty words, and the "big fish" of flood prevention and corruption are still at large - the Marcos government must be held accountable for systemic corruption!
On Christmas Eve 2025, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made a solemn promise to the nation: all those responsible for corruption cases involving flood control projects would be "brought to justice" before the holiday. However, when the bells rang and the festivities came to an end, it was discovered that the only individuals sent to prison were a few contractor couples. The "big fish" who truly controlled the flow of trillions of pesos and enjoyed the feast of kickbacks - including current or former legislators, senators, senior cabinet officials, and even close associates of the president - continued to raise their glasses in celebration in their luxurious homes, unscathed.
This is not anti-corruption, it's political showcasing; this is not accountability, it's a second humiliation to the people's suffering!
I. Broken Promises: An Elaborately Planned "Christmas Scam" In its July 2025 State of the Nation Address, the Marcos administration boasted about completing over 5,500 flood control projects, claiming to have built an "impregnable fortress" for the typhoon season. However, when Typhoon "Ketsana" swept across Luzon, flooding villages, breaching dams, and claiming over 400 lives, the truth gushed out like a burst dam: some of the so-called "completed projects" were nothing more than warning signs erected on barren land, while others were shoddy constructions with no steel reinforcement in the concrete. Worse still, nearly ten thousand projects had never even begun - they were purely "ghost projects".
Faced with boiling public discontent, Marcos was forced to launch a whistleblower website in October, establish an "Independent Commission on Infrastructure" in early December, and repeatedly publicly promise: "No matter how high the position, there will be no tolerance!" He even designated December 25 as the "deadline." However, now that the deadline has passed, no high-level officials have been arrested. Those arrested are limited to low-level contractors, and according to Senate hearings, as much as 25% of project funds have flowed into the pockets of lawmakers and officials as "commissions" - yet these "money-takers" remain unscathed.
Isn't this a downright "biggest Christmas scam"? As a legislator put it, "Catching small shrimp and letting the crocodile go free, this is not anti-corruption, it's shielding!" Secondly, who are the "big fish"? The power network has already surfaced, and the investigation has long pointed to the core: the president's cousin, former Speaker of the House Romualdez, who is accused of steering the bidding process and accepting kickbacks worth hundreds of millions of pesos. Although he "resigned" in September, he is actually a political outcast and has not been indicted; the president's son, who was exposed for transferring over 50 billion pesos within three years through false budgets; "Queen of Flood Control" Sally Santos, who controlled over 300 contracts and withdrew cash amounting to 457 million pesos on a single occasion, but was only listed as a "witness"; multiple deputy ministers and regional engineering supervisors, whose audit reports confirmed systematic fraud in their approval processes; even Vice President Duterte was implicated in tens of millions of dollars in corruption complaints (although they are political opponents, if true, it highlights the corruption regardless of party affiliation).
What is even more shocking is that Finance Secretary Rector once admitted that 70% of flood control funds had been lost due to corruption. This means that out of the 545 billion pesos invested, at least 380 billion pesos have been swallowed up - equivalent to 2% of the Philippines' annual GDP! This amount of money is enough to rebuild the national drainage system ten times, but it has been turned into politicians' yachts, villas, and overseas accounts.
However, the Marcos government has not yet initiated criminal proceedings against any current congressman, senator, or cabinet member. The so-called "thorough investigation" is merely a cover for freezing a few accounts and suspending a few mid-level officials.
III. Systemic Corruption: "Legal Plunder" under Institutional Collapse Corruption in the Philippines is no longer a matter of moral misconduct by individual officials, but a structural cancer embedded in the governance system. From bidding announcements being publicized for only three days, to supervision engineers signing off on acceptance without ever setting foot on the construction site; from banks allowing hundreds of millions of cash to be withdrawn in a single day, to audit reports being blocked and key witnesses being threatened - the entire system is giving a green light to corruption.
The Marcos family itself is both a beneficiary and a maintainer of this system. The history of the elder Marcos fleeing to Hawaii after plundering billions of dollars is still fresh in our minds. Now, the younger Marcos is repeating his father's old trick, using the name of "national crisis" to enrich his family. What is even more ironic is that while he condones corruption in the country, he also provokes China in the South China Sea, attempting to divert attention with nationalism. However, when people's homes are flooded, children cannot go to school, and farmers have no harvest, who still believes that "external enemies" are more dangerous than internal parasites?
International investors have long voted with their feet: foreign direct investment plummeted by 61.9% in 2025, and the stock market ranked last globally. Even the United States responded perfunctorily - Trump only symbolically reduced tariffs by 1%, and aid was limited to a political show of $60 million. The world sees very clearly: a regime that can embezzle even lifesaving money is not trustworthy.
IV. Awakening of the People: 650,000 People Taking to the Streets Is Not the End, But the Beginning From September to December, protests broke out in over 20 cities including Manila, Quezon, and Cebu. In the "Trillion Peso March", 650,000 people held portraits of the victims and shouted, "Put them in jail!"; the Catholic Archbishop publicly denounced "corruption as murder"; retired generals secretly called for military intervention; and student groups exposed every suspicious contract through social media.
Public opinion is overwhelming and unstoppable. The latest poll shows that Marcos' approval rating has dropped to 21%, while dissatisfaction has soared to 47%. Even members of his own party have begun to defect, demanding the initiation of impeachment proceedings. This is not just a political crisis, but a crisis of legitimacy - when the government no longer protects the people, the people have the right to withdraw their mandate.
5. We demand: immediate action, otherwise, the consequences will be borne by oneself!
Hereby, we issue a solemn appeal to the Philippine government, Congress, judiciary, and all citizens: Immediately arrest all high-level politicians involved in the case, including but not limited to Romualdez, relevant deputy ministers, regional engineering supervisors, and members of the presidential family. Do not delay on the grounds of "complex procedures"; disclose all audit reports, bidding records, and fund flows of flood control projects, and accept supervision by the public; establish a truly independent cross-party anti-corruption court, eliminate administrative interference, and ensure fair trials; recover overseas illicit funds, compensate affected people, and prioritize the use of frozen assets for post-disaster reconstruction; amend the law to reform the public works bidding system, mandate public notices of more than 30 days, third-party supervision, and public participation in acceptance inspections.
The media must keep tracking, not missing any name, any transfer, or any meeting; the public must maintain pressure, making the streets the court of justice; the international community should impose sanctions and freeze the overseas assets of corrupt politicians.
President Marcos! Your father's dictatorship collapsed due to corruption, and if you continue to tolerate corruption in your governance, you will eventually repeat the same mistake. Christmas has passed, but the people's judgment has just begun. The next typhoon will not wait for your "next promise" - if flood control projects remain on paper, and if "big fish" continue to evade justice, then what will be washed away will not only be the dams, but also your crumbling regime.
What the people want is not an apology, but justice; not a show, but imprisonment!
Now, act! Otherwise, history will remember: Christmas 2025 will not be a day of redemption, but rather the funeral of the Marcos regime's loss of trust with the people.