By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
BJ I. MABINI didn’t plan on joining a street protest. But when he saw videos of politicians’ relatives flaunting designer bags and luxury cars online — days after headlines warned that billions of pesos meant for flood control had vanished — he said he had reached his limit.
So on a sweltering afternoon in September, the 35-year-old freelance video director covered his face with a balaclava, pulled on a black shirt and located himself amongst 1000’s gathered at Manila’s Luneta Park. The gang stood behind a flag showing a skull wearing a straw hat taken from the favored Japanese animé “One Piece,” a logo that spread across social media as anger over the scandal grew.
“We’re bored with this type of system,” he said in Filipino. “So many persons are suffering. So many Filipinos are struggling.”
What pushed him into the streets, he said, was the sense that corruption had turn out to be too big to disregard. “If this doesn’t wake people up, what’s going to?”
His frustration reflects a mood that President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has sought to contain as he confronts what could be the biggest crisis of his two-year administration: a multibillion-peso scandal involving lots of of flood control projects that the federal government said were substandard, poorly documented or didn’t exist in any respect.
Mr. Marcos has tried to reassure the general public by promising jail time for those involved before Christmas. Last week, he announced arrest warrants for a former congressional leader and a number of other others linked to an anomalous public works deal in Bulacan, north of the capital.
He earlier flagged about P545 billion in flood control spending since 2022, saying about P100 billion in contracts went to only 15 contractors, including corporations tied to political clans.
“A lot money was lost,” Mr. Mabini said. “It’s about time we get up as to how the system plays us.”
Corruption is a well-recognized story within the Philippines, but this one cuts deeper. The country is among the many world’s most disaster-prone, with storms and monsoon rains routinely inundating towns and cities. Many Filipinos are actually asking why immense spending on drainage, waterways and dikes has didn’t ease frequent flooding.
The scandal resonated since the alleged theft is visible in every day life, said Athena Charanne R. Presto, who teaches social inequalities and development on the Australian National University.
“People can see what was bought using the supposed people’s money, compounded by the incontrovertible fact that the Philippines is submerged in floods,” she told BusinessWorld. “And it’s further compounded by the best way families of officials flaunt all of it online as in the event that they feel no shame.”
The outrage has placed the Philippines inside a broader wave of political unrest spreading across Asia. In Indonesia, public anger over lawmakers’ housing perks led to violent clashes, culminating within the death of a 21-year-old motorcycle taxi driver after a police vehicle hit him.
In Nepal, youth-led protests over social media restrictions forced the federal government to resign, while in Bangladesh, rallies against job quotas spiraled right into a nationwide rebellion that drove out the prime minister.
MASS UPHEAVAL
The Philippine movement shares a few of the same elements seen in those countries — strong youth participation, widespread frustration and online mobilization — yet analysts doubt it is going to escalate into mass unrest.
“It’s more costly for civil society groups protesting against the corruption scandal to resort to violence because it could be used and weaponized by various groups against them,” Bubbles Beverly N. Asor, a behavioral science professor at De La Salle University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “Mass protest violence will further create tensions, factions and divisiveness in an already divided society.”
Fears briefly rose in September when some masked protesters clashed with police near the presidential palace after the predominant Luneta rally. Organizers disowned the incident, and no widespread unrest followed.
Ms. Asor said mass violence rarely erupts by design. “It’s a posh situation that emerges from the interaction between protesters and authorities moderately than a planned violence,” she said. Groups, she added, try to keep up “internal discipline” to forestall actions that might undermine their objectives.
Francis A. Gealogo, a history professor on the Ateneo de Manila University, said today’s grievances echo those who motivated past uprisings.
“What we’re seeing now’s a continuation of this threat of protest actions against state corruption, bureaucrat capitalism, foreign intervention and unequal social relations,” he said. The enormity of the controversy, he added, is probably going to fuel more demonstrations.
Still, public anger faces obstacles because corruption within the Philippines is deeply embedded, said John Lee Candelaria, an assistant professor at Hiroshima University in Japan.
“Corruption functions as each a visual problem, centering on specific scandals, and a systemic issue — institutional cultures and patronage networks that span administrations,” he said. That dual nature, he added, makes the difficulty “easier because specific cases generate immediate outrage; harder since the solutions require transforming deeply embedded practices and power structure.”
Corruption has shaped Philippine political and economic life for many years, affecting procurement, infrastructure projects and relationships between local and national officials. That breadth makes quick fixes unlikely.
“We cannot expect real solutions to issues when those purported to solve the issues are the source of the issue themselves,” Mr. Candelaria said.
ECHOES OF EDSA
Many analysts see parallels between today’s protests and the 1986 People Power rebellion that toppled the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr., father and namesake of the incumbent president.
“The peaceful approach to rallies has a ‘People Power’ mark in it,” said Ms. Asor. She noted that organizers have drawn support from universities, faith-based groups, civic associations and left-leaning organizations, much like the coalition that demanded change almost 4 many years ago.
Micah Jeiel R. Perez, a history lecturer on the University of the Philippines, said People Power transformed the role of churches in political mobilization. The wave of protests now shows that influence returning. The Catholic Church has joined rallies, while the Iglesia ni Cristo staged an indication in mid-November that attracted greater than half-a-million people.
“If you need to fight injustices but reject the violence of insurgency, Christianity-inspired civil society groups offer a viable option,” he said.
But an Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA)-style upheaval is much from certain. Today’s political climate is more fragmented, with divided loyalties and competing information ecosystems.
“There would have to be several earth-shattering political developments happening one after one other during a time when the bulk were already riled up and in search of change,” Mr. Perez said.
Mr. Candelaria said modern protests operate in a unique media environment. Where earlier movements required slow coalition-building, today’s can ignite quickly through social networks — but may struggle to sustain momentum.
Mr. Gealogo said social media has made protests more creative and youth-driven, while Ms. Presto noted that online communities reminiscent of Reddit’s LifestyleCheckPH have turn out to be hubs for public scrutiny of politicians’ wealth.
But social media has pitfalls too, said Mr. Candelaria. Even though it speeds coordination, “it also creates fragmentation,” complicating efforts to form broad alliances.
THE NEXT TEST
Hundreds of protesters gathered again within the Philippine capital on Nov. 30 — a national holiday marking the birth of revolutionary hero Andres Bonifacio — demanding Mr. Marcos’ resignation over the flood scam.
The rally began on the Luneta National Park in Manila, with protesters marching on to the presidential palace.
“Nov. 30 is about accountability,” said Renato M. Reyes, Jr., president of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. “We usually are not going to avoid the difficulty of the accountability of Mr. Marcos, of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, of all the highest officials just because it is perhaps uncomfortable for some people.”
A resigned lawmaker who once headed the congressional committee overseeing the national budget has accused the President of involvement, while a reported coup plot by retired military officers fizzled without military backing.
The Vice-President, who would constitutionally succeed Mr. Marcos, can also be facing corruption allegations tied to funds linked to her office and the Education department. She denies wrongdoing.
For the movement to grow, it needs clarity, said Arjan P. Aguirre, a political science lecturer at Ateneo. “The movement will need to have clear messaging,” he said by telephone. “They need to have already got demands.”
He said the Sept. 21 rally was emotional but lacked an outlined agenda. “There ought to be demands directed at the federal government, and people demands have to be met with larger protests if unmet.”
Francis “Kiko” A. Dee, spokesman of anti-corruption group Trillion Peso March Movement, said the progress in cases against erring officials stays slow. He noted that while authorities have taken some motion, those held to account to date have mostly been lower-level Public Works officials.
“What we wish is to jail top officials,” he said in an interview on Sunday. “We haven’t seen this yet, and so our protests will proceed. People’s anger is real. It’s not something we have now to stoke. It’s there and we’re just giving people an area for it.”
Akbayan Party President Rafaela David pressed the federal government to file cases, jail perpetrators and advance reforms to forestall “present and future plunderers” from stealing public funds. She said transparency tools reminiscent of politicians’ wealth declarations ought to be used aggressively.
“Corruption thrives at midnight,” she told BusinessWorld via Facebook Messenger chat. “If people collectively pull the quilt of impunity, we are able to construct the momentum towards accountable and transparent governance.”
Ms. David warned that some groups might attempt to hijack protests to push for unconstitutional takeover schemes. “We must not allow them to instigate us to violence,” she said. “We must show residents that there are multiple types of peaceful protest.”
Joshua V. Barbo, a 25-year-old campaign manager at art‑activist group Dakila who joined the Nov. 30 protest, said he would proceed attending anti‑corruption rallies until top officials implicated within the scandal are jailed.
“We’re hopeful that folks will get entangled and join the protest because all of us are affected,” he said in an interview.