MANILA — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. shrugged off calls for his removal from office, insisting that his administration remains committed to exposing and prosecuting corruption in government flood control projects, including alleged anomalies that predate his presidency.
Speaking to reporters after concluding his four-day official visit to Canada on Sunday (Philippine time), Marcos dismissed allegations of selective justice and unresolved corruption cases as unfounded, saying his government has undertaken the most extensive effort yet to uncover irregularities in flood control spending.
“That makes absolutely no sense,” the President said.
Marcos stressed that it was under his administration that alleged irregularities in flood control projects came under scrutiny, with investigations tracing questionable transactions beyond his term in office.
He said the probe remains far from over as investigators continue to uncover more suspected anomalies.
“I cannot say that we have done enough because we are not done yet. Unfortunately, the more we look, the more we find. And it is going already back beyond my administration, beyond my term,” Marcos said.
The President also noted that former president Rodrigo Duterte had previously acknowledged problems involving flood control projects but said no one had ultimately been held accountable.
“Having acknowledged it, it did not find accountability in anybody. So, I guess that was left up to me to do. And so we are still doing it. We’re still working on it,” Marcos said.
“You know this is a deep-seated system of corruption that requires not only structural changes in the way government is run, in the way the budget is written, but also a change in attitude,” he added.
In September 2025, Marcos signed Executive Order No. 94 creating the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), which investigated alleged anomalies in flood control projects before completing its mandate.
According to the commission’s accomplishment report, it referred nine cases to the Office of the Ombudsman, coordinated the endorsement of 66 individuals to the Department of Justice, and helped facilitate the freezing of 6,692 bank accounts with an estimated value of P24.7 billion as part of the government’s anti-corruption campaign./PN
