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Alan Robles

Half a century after his father declared martial law, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr is confronting his own crisis: a corruption scandal of dizzying scale, coup rumours in the air and tens of thousands of Filipinos preparing to march on the streets of Manila.
Adding to the pressure, Beijing has signalled a readiness to cement its de facto control over the contested Scarborough Shoal – a move analysts warn could permanently alter the strategic map of the South China Sea.
“He’s beleaguered and it’s a major crisis,” Dr Jean Franco, political scientist at the University of the Philippines, told This Week in Asia. “And it can … make or break his legacy.”
At the heart of the domestic uproar are revelations of staggering corruption in flood control. For years, billions of pesos were funnelled into supposed projects that proved dangerously inadequate, or in some cases simply fictitious. Instead, recorded evidence has shown that the funds went to line the pockets of contractors, politicians and government officials.

Public rage erupted late last month after torrential rain submerged swathes of Manila, prompting more questions about the government’s flood defences. Outrage only deepened when one viral video showed one contractor, until recently a receptionist, boasting of her 28 luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce bought, she said, because it came with an umbrella she desired.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada called the display of sudden wealth nakakalula (dizzying). “This is totally outrageous,” he said on September 2.
Other viral videos soon followed, showing the children of politically connected contractors flaunting designer handbags, jet-setting abroad and taunting ordinary Filipinos with their privilege. One contractor’s home was later pelted with mud by protesters.
The “mob mentality”, as one inhabitant put it, spurred residents of the wealthy Manila enclave Forbes Park to petition local authorities for greater security.

Civil society, student movements and the Catholic Church have since joined forces to coordinate mass demonstrations. Two have been timed symbolically for September 21 – the 53rd anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos Snr’s proclamation imposing martial law.
The day is set to begin with students marching to Rizal Park for a rally dubbed “Baha sa Luneta” (“Flood in Luneta”). Later, more than 200 organisations plan to converge at the People Power Monument on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) for the “Trillion Peso March”, in allusion to the vast sums spent on flood control over the past two decades.
The size of the protests was expected to match “the magnitude of the corruption, hundreds of billions of taxpayer pesos in flood-control contracts alone, and the extent and brazenness of the conspiracy behind it,” said political commentator Vergel Santos, retired publisher of the Philippine newspaper BusinessWorld.
The Duterte factor
Organisers have stressed that the protests are not directed against Marcos personally. Father Albert Delvo, one of the conveners of the Edsa rally, told reporters on Monday that it was neither intended to topple the current president nor bring his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte – detained in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity – back to the Philippines.
Still, the divisions run deep. Former law dean Mel Santa Maria wrote on social media that he would join the Edsa protest, but would not be calling for Marcos Jnr to resign. The reason? Because the alternative, Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio assuming the presidency, “would be more dreadful”.
Duterte-Carpio, daughter of former president Duterte, has admitted hiring an assassin to target Marcos, overseen a lacklustre tenure as Education Secretary, reportedly travelled abroad extensively at taxpayers’ expense and faces questions over the use of hundreds of millions in “confidential funds”. Her allies, meanwhile, continue to plot destabilisation.
Indeed, organisers warn that pro-Duterte groups may attempt to infiltrate this week’s demonstrations. Duterte ally Vic Rodriguez confirmed that his camp would rally separately near the Manila Central Post Office, but the potential for agitation remains even at a distance.

Last year, Duterte loyalists staged a week-long “people power” uprising near the Edsa monument that quickly fizzled out in ridicule. Behind the farce, however, lurks a more serious effort: sources have told This Week in Asia that retired generals and pro-Duterte political operators are actively trying to win active military officers over to their cause.
Last Saturday, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner issued a statement rejecting “all attempts to patronise the armed forces by certain groups that insinuate or suggest unconstitutional, unilateral interventions”.
Meanwhile in Congress, alliances are being reshaped. On September 8, the president gained a tenuous advantage as a political coup swept away a slim pro-Duterte majority in the Senate and installed a precarious pro-Marcos bloc.
And on Wednesday, the president’s cousin Martin Romualdez stepped aside as speaker of the House of Representatives, ceding the gavel to a member of Marcos’ own Federal Party of the Philippines.

External pressures
Even as Marcos battles corruption scandals and political intrigue at home, pressure is mounting from abroad. On September 10, Beijing announced plans for a nature reserve at Scarborough Shoal – known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc – that some observers view as a step towards permanent military occupation.
“China had always planned to establish an air and naval base on Scarborough Shoal to complete its full coverage of the South China Sea,” retired Philippine Supreme Court justice and maritime rights advocate Antonio Carpio told This Week in Asia.
Beijing already had air and naval bases in the Paracel and Spratly island chains but “none” in the northeastern part of the disputed waterway, Carpio said.
He urged Manila to “use international law, international security partnerships and a strong self-defence” in response. Yet he warned that Marcos “is distracted right now and time is running out”.

On Monday, a presidential spokesman told reporters that Marcos would be skipping this month’s UN General Assembly in New York “to allow him to focus on local issues”.
The president has promised action on corruption, announcing on September 11 the formation of an Independent Commission for Infrastructure to investigate public works spending. He has expressed shock at the scale of the apparent theft, saying that if he were not president, he would join the protests himself.
But analysts like Franco dismissed the remark as little more than political theatre. “From the very start, it’s hard to believe his anti-corruption drive, mainly because of his family’s legacy,” she told This Week in Asia.
“The people are going to wait and see just how far he is going to take this.”
Santos, meanwhile, suggested that Marcos might ultimately be compelled to rise above “his dictator father’s plunder”.
The veteran political commentator said he saw “a president forced to [do] good … Of course, he won’t be able to do enough, given his family’s singular crimes against the nation.”


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The Philippines

Trillion-peso turmoil hands Philippines’ Marcos a legacy-defining crisis

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr reviews an honour guard during a state visit to Cambodia on September 8. Photo: AP

Protesters shout slogans as they hold a rally against corruption in Quezon City, the Philippines, on September 11. Photo: AP

Protesters throw balloons filled with dirty water during a rally on September 4 outside the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways to condemn flood-control corruption. Photo: AP

Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner (centre) issued a joint statement with the defence secretary earlier this month rejecting attempts to push for “unconstitutional, unilateral interventions” by the military. Photo: EPA

Marcos Jnr listens to then speaker Martin Romualdez (right) during the State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives in July. Photo: AFP

A reporter takes a video from an aircraft flying over Scarborough Shoal earlier this year. Photo: AFP

Philippine military on ‘red alert’ as coup rumours swirl before anti-corruption protests

Soldiers march during a parade to mark the 89th founding anniversary of the Philippines armed forces in Manila last December. The military has vowed to uphold the Constitution amid coup rumours. Photo: AFP

Protesters in the Philippines hold a rally in Manila on Saturday over allegations of massive corruption in flood control projects. Photo: AP

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr speaking on the 80th anniversary of Manila’s liberation in Taguig City on February 22. Marcos agrees with the grievances of anti-corruption protesters, his office says. Photo: EPA-EFE

Philippine president fumes over flood corruption, ‘economic sabotage’

Residents wade through a flooded street after heavy rains in Dagupan City, north of Manila, last month. Photo: AFP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr holds a press conference on flood control projects earlier this month. He called such projects “moneymaking rackets”. Photo: EPA

Marcos vs Marcos: a Philippine first family’s bitter feud

Illustration: Mario Rivera

Happier times: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr with his sister Imee (left) after delivering his second state of the nation address at the House of Representatives in 2023. Photo: AP 

Imee Marcos waves as then president Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a meeting with the Filipino community in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2017. Photo: AFP

Vice-President Sara Duterte Carpio and Imee Marcos appear together in a social media video in April denouncing Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s government. Photo: Facebook

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and his wife Liza (centre) with relatives and friends outside the church on their wedding day in 1993. Photo: Flickr/bongbongmarcos

Wedding guests get together for the Marcoses' renewal of their vows in 2018, without Imee. Photo: Flickr/bongbongmarcos

Imee Marcos in Manila in 1992. Insiders say she was originally groomed as her father’s heir. Photo: AFP

Marcos Jnr and his wife Liza arrive at Malacanang presidential palace in June 2022 accompanied by their son Ferdinand “Sandro” Marcos. Photo: AFP

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A vast corruption scandal has ignited public fury and coup rumours, placing the president between his family’s past and his political rivals


A vast corruption scandal has ignited public fury and coup rumours, placing the president between his family’s past and his political rivals.


Trillion-peso turmoil hands Philippines’ Marcos a legacy-defining crisis

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A vast corruption scandal has ignited public fury and coup rumours, placing the president between his family’s past and his political rivals

A vast corruption scandal has ignited public fury and coup rumours, placing the president between his family’s past and his political rivals