MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday that many of at least 37 powerful senators, members of Congress and wealthy businessmen implicated in a massive corruption scandal involving flood control projects will be locked up in jail by Christmas as he tried to quell public outrage and street protests.
Marcos said an independent fact-finding commission he created had filed criminal charges against 37 suspects for bribery, corruption and robbery, non-bailable crimes. Criminal complaints have also been filed against 86 construction company executives and nine government officials for alleged tax evasion totaling nearly 9 billion pesos ($152 million).
Corruption has been blamed for shoddy, defective or non-existent flood control projects across the country. This is a particularly sensitive issue in the Philippines, one of the countries in Asia most prone to deadly typhoons, floods and extreme weather.
Typhoon Kalmaegi killed at least 232 people last week, mostly from flash floods, and left another 125 missing in the country's central region. Super Typhoon Fung Wong struck the northern Philippines just days later, leaving at least 27 people dead, two missing and millions affected by floods and landslides.
“I know that before Christmas, the cases of many of those named will be completed and they will end up in prison,” Marcos said, adding, without specifying, that more anomalies were to be discovered. According to him, the claims were strong and aimed at recovering huge stolen funds.
“We don’t file cases based on optics,” Marcos said. “We bring cases to put people in jail.”
Marcos spoke at a televised news conference to report progress on the crackdown he pledged in July at his annual State of the Union address. The corruption scandal has sparked public outrage and street protests, including one planned for three days starting this weekend and another on November 30.
The government's Anti-Money Laundering Council issued seven orders freezing the assets of corruption suspects, including 1,671 bank accounts, 144 properties, 244 vehicles and other assets worth 6.3 billion pesos ($107 million), Marcos said.
At least 13 of the suspects' luxury cars and SUVs, including leading European and British models, were seized by the Bureau of Customs for various violations, and the first seven vehicles were put up for public auction.
Last month, Philippine officials unveiled a new prison that could house corruption suspects during their trials. The prison in suburban Quezon City could hold up to 800 inmates, and officials promised that no VIP treatment would be given to influential politicians.
Among the infrastructure projects that were being investigated for possible anomalies were 9,855 flood control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9 billion) that were due to be implemented since Marcos took office in mid-2022. In September, Finance Minister Ralph Recto told lawmakers that as much as 118.5 billion pesos ($2 billion) in flood control projects could be lost to corruption starting in 2023 alone.
Those implicated included anti-Marcos and pro-Marcos lawmakers, including former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin and key ally of the president who denies any wrongdoing. Some allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte, a harsh critic of Marcos, have also come under suspicion over the anomalies.
“No one is immune. No one will be exempt from these investigations,” Marcos said.
