Thousands march in Manila demanding corrupt officials face jail over ghost flood control projects that diverted billions in taxpayer funds.
MANILA: Thousands of protesters marched through the Philippine capital on Sunday demanding jail time for officials and contractors accused of embezzling billions in flood control funds.
Demonstrators gathered at Manila’s Luneta Park carrying a large effigy merging President Ferdinand Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte into a two-headed crocodile representing corruption.
Riot police deployed barbed wire barricades as protesters chanted “Police! Protectors of the corrupt!” near the presidential palace.
Official estimates placed crowd numbers below 10,000 while more than 17,000 police officers were deployed across the city.
The scandal involves ghost flood-control projects that allegedly diverted taxpayer money while recent typhoons submerged entire towns across the archipelago.
President Marcos made the widespread fraud the centerpiece of a July national address that has since implicated allies and relatives including a congressman cousin.
Mervin Toquero of the National Council of Churches expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s response to the scandal.
“It’s impossible that corruption happened without the knowledge of the higher officials,” the 54-year-old told AFP at Luneta Park.
Drag performer Jessie Wanaluvmi J highlighted the human cost saying “There are people who died because of the corruption that is happening.”
The government recently announced the first arrests with eight Department of Public Works and Highways members detained while promising “big fish are coming soon.”
Another protest group marched along EDSA thoroughfare calling for corrupt officials to be “put in jail now” at the site of the 1986 People Power Movement that ousted Marcos’s father.
Azon Tobiano brought her granddaughter to the protest after seeing social media calls for action.
“I really hope that justice will be served,” the 68-year-old told AFP.
Twenty-three-year-old Cuitlauzina Cerbito described the corruption as “systemic” requiring collective action rather than individual efforts.
The Philippines has a long history of corruption scandals where high-ranking politicians typically escape serious jail time.
