Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater.
Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects.
The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects.
Photo: EPA
Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters.
“We don’t file cases for optics. We file cases to put people in jail,” he said. “They won’t have a merry Christmas ... happy days are over.”
Marcos put the issue of ghost infrastructure projects center stage in his national address in July and public anger over the issue has since mounted.
Asked if his cousin Martin Romualdez would also face charges, Marcos said “not as yet,” citing a lack of evidence.
However, he added that “no one is exempted in this investigation.”
The Philippines is still reeling from the devastation caused when Super Typhoon Fung-wong made landfall in the country on Sunday evening, flooding hundreds of villages and killing at least 27 people.
Fung-wong came just days after Typhoon Kalmaegi hit the central part of the archipelago nation and killed at least 232 people.
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