Manila: Protesters in Manila on Thursday demanded the resignation of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to take responsibility for a corruption scandal involving spending on flood prevention projects. The People’s Movement Against Corruption (KBKK) marched from Luneta Park, also known as Rizal Park, towards the presidential palace. Some protesters wore masks resembling the faces of President Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte, and carried placards that compared politicians to crocodiles. Many held signs calling for Marcos Jr.’s resignation and calling for the prosecution of all corrupt politicians. Organisers estimated that more than 20,000 people took part.
According to Thai News Agency, the main opposition group, backed by the Catholic Church in the Philippines, staged a trillion peso march through the historic streets of Manila, demanding the resignation of Marcos Jr. as they await stronger evidence against him on criminal charges. Philippine police deployed more than 12,000 officers to maintain order during the rally, blocking all roads around the presidential palace with barbed wire and vans.
Today’s move is the latest expression of deep anger among Filipinos over trillions of pesos worth of corruption, with accusations that politicians, including presidential allies, have taken billions of pesos in bribes for flood prevention project procurements that were either ineffective or never built. The widespread damage from Typhoons Kalmaegi and Fung-wong, which struck earlier in November, killed more than 250 people, has also fueled public anger.
Former congressman Saldi Go, accused of accepting bribes and in exile since July, claimed this month that President Marcos Jr. had accepted more than $852 million in bribes for infrastructure projects since 2022 and ordered him to add another $1.7 billion to the 2025 budget for non-existent projects while he was chairman of the House budget committee. Marcos Jr. denies the allegations. Go also claimed that in 2024 he brought a bag containing 1 billion pesos in cash to Marcos Jr. at the presidential residence.