MANILA — According to Malacañang on Tuesday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is adamant about due process and constructing cases based on hard evidence.
The statement was made in reaction to those who criticized the Chief Executive’s former cronies involved in the multibillion peso flood control controversy for allegedly filing cases slowly.
The Palace was questioned about why the Marcos Jr. government has not yet brought charges against high-ranking officials who were allegedly involved in the adoption of the corrupt 2025 national budget, which provided funding for unusual anti-flood initiatives costing billions of dollars.
“Ebidensya ang panghahawakan at due process ang kailangan,” said Claire Castro, Undersecretary of Communications.
Castro pointed out that Marcos was the one who released the whole list of all flood control initiatives carried out during his administration and asked people to report any unusual projects in their neighborhoods.
Marcos criticized dishonest government officials in his fourth State of the Nation Address, emphasizing that they need to feel ashamed of themselves.
After over 7 months, high-ranking government officials have still not been held accountable despite the administration launching a number of probes into the corruption disaster that has now been dubbed the largest corruption scandal in the Philippines.
While Marcos created the Independent Commission for Infrastructure, a panel tasked with looking into unusual anti-flood programs, the Palace has not yet released the group’s complete conclusions and has instead trusted the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman to implement the ICI’s recommendations.
As the probe evolves, much of the attention has now shifted to how quickly and transparently the Ombudsman and DOJ will act on recommendations, and whether higher‑profile cases will emerge from the controversy enveloping the controversial infrastructure spending.
Castro responded that the body had already received the budget when questioned about reports that certain ICI employees had not yet received their salaries.
