Public anger has been mounting across the Southeast Asian nation since President Ferdinand Marcos highlighted the issue during his July state of the nation address following weeks of deadly flooding, AFP reported.
Marcos stated he did not blame citizens for protesting while calling for demonstrations to remain peaceful as the army was placed on red alert as a precautionary measure.
Aly Villahermosa, a 23-year-old nursing student from Metro Manila, shared her personal experience with flooding while questioning the allocation of public funds.
“If there’s a budget for ghost projects, then why is there no budget for the health sector?” she said, calling the theft Teddy Casino, chairman of left-wing alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, demanded both the return of stolen funds and prison sentences for those involved in the corruption.
“Corruption requires people to go to the streets and express their outrage in the hope of pressuring government to actually do their jobs,” he said.
Larger crowds were expected to gather later to March along EDSA, the historic site of the People Power Movement protests that ousted Marcos’s father from power in 1986.
The scandal has already triggered leadership changes in both houses of Congress, with House speaker Martin Romualdez resigning as investigations commenced.
Construction firm owners recently accused nearly 30 House members and Department of Public Works and Highways officials of accepting cash payments for phantom projects.
The Department of Finance estimated the Philippine economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos ($2 billion) from 2023 to 2025 due to corruption in flood control initiatives.
Greenpeace suggested the actual financial damage might be closer to $18 billion, highlighting the scale of the alleged fraud.
The Philippines has a long history of corruption scandals involving public funds, with high-ranking politicians typically avoiding serious jail time despite convictions.
Residents in flood-plagued Bulacan province north of Manila continue to struggle with inadequate infrastructure while corruption investigations unfold.
Elizabeth Abanilla, an 81-year-old retiree, stated that both politicians and contractors shared responsibility for the mismanagement of public funds.
“They should not have handed (money) over before the job is completed,” she said. “Both of them are guilty.”