Marcos Says Many Linked to Flood-Control Graft Will Be Jailed by Christmas as Probe Widens

Philippine president vows arrests as probe into flood-control corruption expands

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Thursday that many of the at least 37 powerful figures—senators, members of Congress and wealthy businesspeople—implicated in a sweeping corruption scandal tied to flood-control projects are likely to be behind bars by Christmas. He spoke as his administration sought to calm public outrage and quell planned street protests.

Marcos said an independent fact-finding commission he created has filed criminal complaints alleging graft, corruption and plunder (a non-bailable offense) against the 37 named suspects. Separate complaints were also filed against 86 construction-company executives and nine government officials for allegedly evading nearly 9 billion pesos (about $152 million) in taxes.

Authorities have linked corruption to substandard, defective or missing flood-control works across the archipelago—an especially sensitive issue in the Philippines, one of Asia’s most typhoon-prone countries, where failed defences can cost many lives.

Typhoon Kalmaegi recently left at least 232 people dead, mostly in flash floods, with 125 others reported missing in the central region. Days later, Super Typhoon Fung-wong struck the north, killing at least 27 and affecting millions through flash floods and landslides.

“I know that before Christmas, the cases of many of those who were named would be concluded and they would end up in jail,” Marcos said, adding investigators expect to find additional irregularities. “We don’t file cases for optics. We file cases to put people in jail.”

Marcos delivered the remarks at a televised news conference outlining progress on a crackdown he pledged in July. The scandal has prompted widespread public anger and planned demonstrations, including a three-day protest starting this weekend and another march set for Nov. 30.

Vice President Sara Duterte, who has clashed politically with Marcos, said he should also be held accountable for signing the 2025 national budget, which she asserts includes appropriations for questionable infrastructure projects. “He has a big shortcoming in his work for the nation so he can put himself in jail,” she told reporters.

The government’s Anti-Money Laundering Council has issued seven freeze orders on assets tied to suspects, covering 1,671 bank accounts, 144 real-estate properties, 244 vehicles and other assets valued at about 6.3 billion pesos (roughly $107 million). Customs authorities have seized at least 13 luxury cars and SUVs linked to suspects, and seven have been put up for auction.

“It will be an important signal, a healthy signal to see people actually starting to end up in jail for theft of public property,” Denmark’s ambassador to the Philippines, Franz-Michael Mellbin, said during a Manila business forum discussing the flood-control anomalies.

Last month authorities opened a new detention facility in suburban Quezon City that can hold up to 800 detainees; officials pledged that powerful politicians would not receive VIP treatment while detained.

Investigators are reviewing a massive portfolio of projects: 9,855 flood-control works valued at more than 545 billion pesos (over $9 billion) that were supposed to have been carried out since Marcos took office in mid-2022. Finance Secretary Ralph Recto told lawmakers in September that as much as 118.5 billion pesos (about $2 billion) earmarked for flood control may have been lost to corruption since 2023 alone.

Those implicated include lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle—some allied with Marcos and others opposed to him—including former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the president’s cousin and a key ally, who has denied wrongdoing. Allies of former President Rodrigo Duterte have also come under suspicion.

“Nobody’s immune. Nobody would be exempted in these investigations,” Marcos said, underscoring the administration’s stated intent to pursue accountability across the political spectrum.